CEOs who got out before crisis left with millions

[PA Democrat]

NEW YORK - With a Wall Street bailout looming that will almost certainly limit CEO pay, some of the poster boys of the financial crisis have already fled the scene, taking millions of dollars in severance packages with them.

Stanley O'Neal walked away from Merrill Lynch with a package now worth about $66 million. Less than a year later, the storied investment house was forced into a takeover by Bank of America.

Ken Thompson was ousted from Wachovia in June with a "golden parachute" now worth more than $5 million, and Chuck Prince was forced out at Citigroup with a parting gift now valued at $16 million.

They are among the best-known former CEOs in the American banking industry — an industry that, after they left, was brought to its knees in a crisis that had lawmakers warning about the possibility of outright panic or even another Great Depression

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_bi_ge/bailout_ceo_pay;_ylt=Amz1lfABvEsFLhyUhC6OhXGyBhIF

[Jeanette in FL]

1. Reminds me of Jeff Skillings from Enron

Who resigned from Enron selling a big block of his stocks before the great fall.

[PA Democrat]

2. I think those packages should have some strict strings attached.

Of course it's a cozy little club at the top of corporate America. All those guys serve on each other's boards and approve each other's obscene compensation packages.

[Jeanette in FL]

3. Yep, we've been to this rodeo before

An incestuous little group, they are.