Nestlé's CEO was abruptly fired after a senior executive, reportedly his longtime mistress, caught him with another employee in a Zurich hotel room and filed a complaint that triggered a rapid internal investigation.
The details were revealed in an explosive report published by Swiss outlet Inside Paradeplatz.
Laurent Freixe, who led the world's largest food company for less than a year, was terminated on September 1 after the company confirmed he had violated Nestlé's code of conduct by failing to disclose a relationship with a direct report.
But behind the official explanation lies a scandal involving multiple affairs, corporate severance deals, and a dramatic confrontation that reportedly led top Nestlé executives to fire Freixe on the spot, calling him a 'liar' and demanding he hand over his phone.
The scandal began when a senior marketing executive, referred to by insiders as Freixe's 'main mistress', walked in on him with another subordinate, then used Nestlé's anonymous whistleblower hotline to report the CEO's conduct.
