The SEC is investigating US allegations that Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris misappropriation of company funds for personal gain, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
It is unclear whether the SEC investigation is limited to the allegations of expense or is broader in scope. It is also unclear whether regulators have ordered Dow, Liveris and other company officials to turn over documents or testify as part of the government's investigation.
But Reuters has learned that the SEC had issued subpoenas to thousands of pages of documents and testimonies that were part of a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit brought last year by a former employee of Dow, Kimberly Wood.
Dow, based in Midland, Mich., Has been a long-term supplier to the automotive industry and in 2014 generated $ 2.8 billion in sales of automakers, according to the data center Automotive News .
Sports tours
Wood, a fraud investigator in Dow company claimed that the money had funded vacation, sports tours and other benefits to Liveris and his family. Dow ended with wood earlier this year, and both sides agreed not to discuss the case.
A Dow spokesman had no immediate comment for this story.
The SEC investigation does not mean that regulators found no irregularities. These investigations may result in civil cases against companies and their employees, or they may end without charge, sometimes months or years later.
In May, an investigation by Reuters showed that the wood was not the only employee of Dow questioning whether Liveris, one of the best-known CEOs in the world, used his position for personal gain. A series of tests by internal auditors Dow, including former chief auditor Doug Anderson, covered the period between 2008 and 2013.
On leaving the company in 2013, Reuters found, Anderson sent a memo to senior officials of the company with the label "DOW CONFIDENTIAL". In it, he expressed concern about what he called "suspected ethics and compliance issues or violations." Both memo and demands wooden Anderson raised questions about whether the expense involved Liveris was duly explained by Dow and accurately disclosed to shareholders and the SEC.
Case closed '
In response to the story from Reuters, Dow issued a media statement last month saying the article was inaccurate and included matters that were "long since closed time. Disappointed," read statement, "Reuters sees somehow these old issues as newsworthy. "
Wood filed federal and state lawsuits last year against Dow, Liveris and the top lawyer of the company, Charles Kalil complainants. She claimed she was fired in 2013 for repeatedly reporting questionable expenses CEO unrelated to the company's business activities. Wood worked at Dow for 25 years.
After initially calling Wood suits "baseless", Dow established its claims in February for an undisclosed sum.
Now 61, the Australian-born Liveris has spent 11 years leading Dow, a giant global chemicals that generates $ 58 billion in revenue last year. He has won over $ 20 million annually, he served as advisor to the manufacturing US President Barack Obama, and is often a featured speaker at events like the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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