Fired Wal-Mart exec claims CEO got perks from vendor
The relationship between the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and entrepreneur Irwin Jacobs, a vendor to the world’s largest retailer, is taking some heat.
Fired Wal-Mart marketing executive Julie Roehm, in the latest salvo aimed at her former employer, claimed in a court filing that CEO Lee Scott misused the company’s ethics policy and accepted trips and received preferential prices on yachts and jewelry from Jacobs.
Jacobs owns a number of companies, including Genmar Holdings Inc., a builder of recreational boats, and Jacobs Trading Co., which purchases unsold merchandise from Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.
In the documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Roehm -- who is challenging Wal-Mart’s charges of improper conduct, including accepting gifts from vendors and having an affair with a subordinate -- also attacked other senior executives for accepting trips, concert tickets and other gifts from vendors.
Roehm’s suit contends that Scott and his wife frequently used private airplanes provided by Jacobs to travel to their residences in Longboat Key, Fla., and Las Vegas. Through his relationship with Jacobs, Scott was able to purchase a large pink diamond for his wife at a preferential price, she claims. Scott, the suit says, maintained a relationship with Jacobs that goes “beyond a business relationship.”
Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley dismissed Roehm’s charges, saying, “This lawsuit is about Julie Roehm and her misconduct. Her document shows how weak her case is.”
He continued: “We will address these issues in court. The allegations of impropriety involving our CEO, Lee Scott, are untrue.”
Jacobs flatly denied all of Roehm’s charges.
In a telephone interview, he called Roehm’s attacks untrue and “outrageous” and vowed to sue her and her lawyer if she refused to retract her charges.
Roehm’s lawyer, Sam Morgan, said he planned to depose Jacobs and would subpoena records from all of Jacobs’ businesses.
Wal-Mart’s ethics policy forbids company officials from accepting gifts or gratuities from vendors and those who are seeking to do business.
Roehm’s filing follows a move by Rhode Island’s state treasurer, publicized Thursday, to ask the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Wal-Mart violated securities laws by not disclosing that Scott’s son, Eric, works for Jacobs Trading. Wal-Mart has maintained that there is no requirement under the law for a disclosure and no conflict of interest. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said the question was a “nonissue.”
Rhode Island’s state employee pension fund has substantial holdings in Wal-Mart shares through index funds that group large corporations.
