LOS ANGELES, June 19 (UPI) -- American Apparel's board said late Wednesday night that they had voted to remove founder and chief executive Dov Charney from his position pending an investigation into alleged misconduct.
The board said in a statement they voted to remove Charney as chairman of the board and had "notified him of its intent to terminate his employment as president and CEO for cause.". Charney has had to deal with lawsuits and allegations of misconduct but most of these stemmed from rumors and newspaper stories.
Charney's misconduct allegedly involves his personal conduct toward women and sexual harassment allegations. Allan Mayer, the company's newly appointed co-chairman, said that the board launched an investigation this year after "new information came to light."
"We take no joy in this, but the board felt that it was the right thing to do," Mayer said in a statement. "Dov Charney created American Apparel, but the company has grown much larger than any one individual, and we are confident that its greatest days are still ahead."
American Apparel's CFO, John Luttrell, was instated as the interim chief executive and David Danzinger will be co-chairman with Mayer.
The popular retailer had faced some testing times with its stock price falling 84 percent over the last five years. Years of underperformance combined with the damaging rumors surrounding the company's founder led to the extreme step taken by the board, though they did say that Charney's firing had nothing to do with the company's operations.