PulteGroup says it has fired former employee who used multiple Twitter accounts to attack founding family after ethics probe

PulteGroup Inc.
PHM,
-1.55%
said Friday it has completed an investigation into code of ethical business conduct violations by a former employee and has terminated the individual. The probe found that the employee had created multiple Twitter accounts and then used them to make critical comments about certain members of the Pulte family that are founders of the homebuilder. The employee acted alone and there was no evidence that the individual used AI or any other automated technology to post on Twitter. “The Board of Directors and leadership team of PulteGroup sincerely regret that inappropriate comments were posted on social media, and that there was a violation of the standards we hold for all employees,” said Thomas Folliard, PulteGroup Board Chairman, in a statement. The investigation was conducted by King & Spalding LLP and led by John Horn, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. William J. Pulte, the company’s founder, retired in 2010 and passed away in 2018. His grandson, Bill Pulte, was a board member from September 2016 to May 2020, but had no affiliation with the family, said the statement. The stock was slightly lower premarket and has fallen 4% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.76%
has fallen 13%.