U.S. pay czar says he can "claw back" exec compensation [View All]

Source: Reuters

Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:09am EDT

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS (Reuters) - Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's pay czar, said on Sunday he has broad and "binding" authority over executive compensation, including the ability to "claw back" money already paid, and he is weighing how and whether to use that power.

Feinberg told Reuters that Citigroup Inc included the contract of energy trader Andrew Hall in submissions due Friday by seven major companies still locked in the federal government's TARP Program.

Feinberg said he hasn't looked at Hall's contract, which reports have said could pay him as much as $100 million this year.

"Whether I have jurisdiction to decide his compensation or not, we will take a look and decide over the next few weeks," Feinberg said after speaking at a public forum in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, part of a newsmaker series hosted by the Martha's Vineyard Times newspaper.

Feinberg has been consulting with seven companies that have yet to pay back money they borrowed from the government, including Citi, American International Group Inc, Bank of America Corp, Chrysler Financial, Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co and GMAC Inc.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57G0E820090817

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Earlier related Latest Breaking News thread:
CitiGroup says two exempt from pay review (Sun Aug-16-09)