This year saw some of the most heart-warming stories about company heads who worked hard to keep business intact, but this year also unveiled shocking accounts of CEOs forgetting that they're in the spotlight.
LUCKIN COFFEE'S Jenny Zhiya Qian
This week, Luckin Cofee agreed to pay $180 million in settlement to the accounting fraud charge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hit the coffee chain with.
While Luckin Coffee did not admit or deny the charges, the SEC's charge listed Luckin Coffee to have deceived investors "by materially misstating the company's revenue, expenses, and net operating loss" to its benefit.
CEO Jenny Zhiya Qian and COO Jian Liu were just among more than a dozen employees who were fired after news of the fabrication of accounts emerged.
Qian led the company to its stellar rise to glory. The coffee chain started as a single coffee shop to becoming a headache for Starbucks' China stores.
In March, Forbes estimated Qian to have a net worth of $1.3 billion, based on her stakes in the company at that time, which was 15 percent. By April, the Chinese coffee chain announced that it was working with Chinese regulators to investigate the alleged fabrication of financial details in the company.
CROSSFIT'S Greg Glassman
CrossFit was in the spotlight for most of June following leaked audio that BuzzFeed obtained wherein the company's founder and CEO, Greg Glassman, was heard being un-empathetic about the death of George Floyd.
The leaked audio was from a Zoom meeting. In the same meeting, Glassman can be heard recounting the unproven conspiracy theory that Floyd was a member of a cash fraud ring.
Glassman also made a tweet the following week that saw athletes question the business mogul's stand on racism and police brutality.
Finally, the New York Times published a probe into the alleged sexual harassment and sexism that was taking place within the popular fitness company. Glassman has since apologized for his remarks regarding Floyd's death, but he denied allegations about the workplace.
NIKOLA CORPORATION'S Trevor Milton
Nikola Corporation was an idea of a future that saw hydrogen-powered trucks. CEO and founder Trevor Milton was selling the idea until a report unravelled Milton's supposed failures in his past business ventures.
The report dragged Nikola into the spotlight, branding the company as an "intricate fraud" and grabbing the attention of the trucking industry for all the wrong reasons.
In the report, Nikola was pictured as a company that exaggerated its technology and one that falsely claimed it owned components that were later found to have been purchased from a different provider.
The report also revealed that Milton had some run-ins with the law as his previous business ventures didn't work out well, and lawsuits were filed.
A few months after the Hindenburg Research report went public, Nikola lost its strategic partnership deal with General Motors, and Milton stepped down as the CEO.
The U.S. Department of Justice and SEC have launched separate investigations into the trucking company that has yet to bring life to its concept vehicles.
