On January 9, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had reached a settlement with McDonald's and its former CEO, Stephen Easterbrook, for charges stemming from McDonald's 2019 termination of Easterbrook for violating company policy by engaging in "an inappropriate personal relationship" with a McDonald's employee. McDonald's was charged with failing to disclose material information to investors regarding Easterbrook's termination in what the dissenting commissioners called a "case of first impression." As a consequence of its cooperative and substantial assistance to the SEC staff, however, McDonald's ultimately avoided the imposition of monetary penalties. READ MORE