Chemours has placed its CEO, chief financial officer and controller on administrative leave over financial reporting issues, prompting an internal review by the Audit Committee of the company’s Board of Directors and an independent law firm.
The company announced the change in a press release issued this morning. The 2023 year-end and fourth quarter financial reports, due yesterday, have been delayed.
The scope of the audit includes “processes for reviewing reports made to the Chemours Ethics Hotline” and financial management practices. The company said that some of the potentially inaccurate financial data had been “filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or otherwise publicly released.”
Incorrect financial data could have misled shareholders, employees and the public about the value and stability of the company.
Chemours said it is also evaluating the effectiveness of the “tone at the top set by certain members of senior management.” President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Newman, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Lock, and Vice President, Controller and Principal Accounting Officer Camela Wisel have all been placed on administrative leave.
Denise Dignam has been named as the Interim Chief Executive Officer and Matt Abbott as the Interim Chief Financial Officer, who will also oversee principal accounting.
The company said the Audit Committee and its outside counsel will “complete the review expeditiously,” and the Company expects to report on its findings and its “related remediation efforts” in its Annual Report.
Chemours’s Fayetteville Works plant is responsible for contaminating the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians with GenX and other toxic PFAS compounds. Chemours and its former parent company DuPont face dozens of lawsuits related to environmental contamination of PFAS, including GenX. A judge recently ruled in favor of Attorney General Josh Stein’s office, which argued if the original DuPont company is found liable for contamination, then its subsidiaries, Chemours, New DuPont and Corteva can also be held financially responsible for the damage.
As of Dec. 31, 2023, Chemours maintained cash and cash equivalents of $1.2 billion; half of that amount is earmarked for a legal settlement to resolve PFAS-related drinking water claims with hundreds of public water systems. DuPont and Corteva — spinoffs of the original DuPont company — are also contributing to the settlement fund, which will total $1.185 billion.
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