Dive Brief:

• Chemours CFO Jonathan Lock resigned from his position at the company effective April 23, the global chemicals company said Thursday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• The resignation comes after an internal probe by the Wilmington, Delaware-based company’s audit committee found that Lock and two other executives engaged in unethical financial practices, CFO Dive previously reported.
• Lock, CEO Mark Newman and Controller and Principal Accounting Officer Camela Wisel were placed on administrative leave in February pending the results of Chemours’ internal review into certain financial practices, CFO Dive reported.

Dive Insight:

Lock is departing after just under a year in the chair. A six-year veteran of the business, Lock succeeded Sameer Ralhan in the CFO role last June. Ralhan’s departure came as Chemours and fellow chemical companies Corteva and DuPont announced that they would pay over $1 billion to settle claims of “forever chemicals” that have contaminated U.S. public water systems.

Chemours first announced it would be undertaking an internal investigation into Lock, Newman and Wisel’s conduct in February, according to a company press release at the time noting that the executives had been placed on leave. The company appointed Denise Dignam as its interim CEO and Matt Abbott as interim CEO, principal financial and accounting officer, according to the release.

With help from outside counsel, Chemours determined Lock, Newman and Wisel had “engaged in efforts in the fourth quarter of 2023 to delay payments to certain vendors that were originally due to be paid in the fourth quarter of 2023 until the first quarter of 2024,” Chemours said in a March press release following the results of the audit probe.  

The three executives engaged in these actions in part to meet free cash flow targets, part of a key metric for determining incentive compensation applicable for Chemours’ executive officers, the company said in the March release.

When assuming the CFO seat in June 2023, Lock was set to receive an annual base salary of $600,000 and was eligible for an annual incentive plan award of 75% of that base, as well as a target long-term incentive plan award of $1 million, according to a company filing at the time.

Other than stock options — subject to certain requirements — and “any rights Mr. Lock has to vested benefits under the terms of the Company’s employee benefit plans, Mr. Lock is not entitled to any severance, equity award vesting or other compensation in connection with his resignation,” the company said.

Chemours declined to comment beyond the details included in its filings.