BL Premium reports that McDonald’s, the multinational fast-food chain, has thwarted an extortion plot by an employee in SA who threatened to tarnish the company’s reputation with its customers.

Former employee Clement Seothaeng sent a video to the group in which he is seen spitting on an ice cream cup while wearing his work uniform. He threatened to release the video if the company did not pay him R100,000.   On learning about the potential release of the video on social media, the company escalated the matter to its risk manager for SA. This led to the CEO being notified and the company engaging attorneys to address the issue. An investigation found that Seothaeng was behind the extortion, and he admitted it. He justified his action by claiming that his anger towards the company drove him to do it. The company filed criminal and malicious injury to property charges. Seothaeng was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for extortion and five years’ imprisonment for malicious injury to property. Last week, he tried to appeal against the sentence, arguing that the court overemphasised the seriousness of his crimes and that the sentence was “grossly excessive”. His appeal was partially successful after the Pretoria High Court agreed that two years of the five-year sentence for malicious damage to property should run concurrently with the 10-year extortion sentence, leaving him with an effective 13-year sentence.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kabelo Khumalo at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
• Lees ook, McDonald’s-werker wat wou afpers, moet bly sit, by Maroela Media

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