Walgreen Co.’s former Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon sued the drugstore operator Thursday, alleging he was defamed in news reports that suggested he was “personally responsible” for errors in the company’s earnings forecast.
Former Walgreen Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon sued the drugstore operator Thursday, alleging he was defamed in news reports that suggested he was “personally responsible” for errors in the company’s earnings forecast.
Miquelon alleged in the lawsuit that Chief Executive Officer Gregory Wasson and director Stefano Pessina, the company’s biggest shareholder, made false and defamatory comments about him to investors in early August.
The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 19 that Miquelon and another top executive left the company after a $1 billion forecasting error in Walgreen’s Medicare-related business, the suit said.
A second “even more defamatory” article appeared Sept. 30, court documents said.
“The unanswered articles have had the inevitable negative impact on Miquelon,” the lawsuit stated. “Miquelon has gone from being a 49-year-old former CFO of a Fortune 30 company … who had Chief Operating Officer … and CFO opportunities in the marketplace, to being a man with no such options and no recourse other than this lawsuit.”
Walgreen spokeswoman Emily Hartwig said the company does not comment on pending litigation.
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Miquelon stepped down as chief financial officer Aug. 4 after a six-year tenure.
According to court documents, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Miquelon’s decision to resign was “personal, based on his desire to pursue opportunities outside of Walgreen.”
Miquelon further alleged that he had pressed Walgreen general counsel Thomas Sabatino, Wasson and Pessina to have Walgreen “publicly report the truth” but the drugstore operator had not done so.
In the lawsuit, Miquelon said he was offered a promotion in April by Wasson and was told that if he accepted the offer, he would be in line to succeed Wasson as CEO.