Wrongful firing lawsuit lifts veil on Dow CEO's spending
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Sometimes a CEO just wants to have fun.
According to an internal investigation, Dow Chemical Co. CEO Andrew N. Liveris took lavish trips, attended Super Bowls and procured $90,000 worth of wine on the Midland, Michigan-based company’s dime, Reuters reports.
These details came to light after Dow settled a wrongful termination suit with former employee Kimberly Wood in February over her 2013 firing which she claimed was tied to her findings about Mr. Liveris’ spending, according to Reuters.
Compiled in 2010, Ms. Wood’s internal report cites emails in which Mr. Liveris told employees not to inform clients that he would be attending Super Bowl XLIV, and that he intended to pay for other trips, according to Reuters.
“Please tell no-one I am going …….like always,” Mr. Liveris wrote in am email to Robert Long, the former head of Dow’s customer events department, the report states. Mr. Long left the company in 2011.
Reuters reports that while a Dow spokeswoman didn’t dispute the emails between Mr. Liveris and Mr. Long, she said the CEO never intended to avoid clients.
According to the report, bottles of a pricey Australian wine were also purchased by the company, with one case sent to Mr. Liveris’ house and three bottles sent to one of his son’s private school teachers.
The report was released by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Reuters said. It’s among records subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in an investigation of Mr Liveris’ spending.
The CEO paid back $719,923 for “not primarily business related” expenses in 2011, Reuters reported.
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