Enron's Top 144 Executives Got $621.7 Million in 2001 (Update2)
By Jim Kennett
Houston, June 17 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp., heading toward bankruptcy last year, paid its top 144 executives and directors at least $621.7 million plus another $311.8 million in restricted stock, court records show.
Former Chief Executive Kenneth Lay received $137.9 million, including salary, a bonus, stock options and $81.5 million in loans. As of Dec. 1, he had repaid all but $7.5 million of the loans using stock that is now almost worthless, the papers show. Lay also received restricted stock worth $14.8 million in 2001.
``The amount was a little bit of a surprise,'' said Rod Jordan, chairman of the Severed Enron Employees Coalition, a group that represents former employees. ``I knew they were socking away a lot of money. It's just an example of where the money went, instead of to the people who actually earned it.''
The figures were included in 16,000 pages of information filed with a federal bankruptcy judge in New York. The court papers described Enron's finances before the energy trader filed the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 2.
Enron's bankruptcy has spawned dozens of federal and state investigations, including one announced today by the Senate Finance Committee into whether Enron shipped some executives' bonuses offshore to avoid taxes. In its court papers, Enron said 180 lawsuits have been filed against it.
Losses
The company also provided revenue and profit figures, including those for 67 bankrupt units. The businesses lost $310.6 million last year and $281.3 million in 2000, making 1999 the last profitable year for the parent and its units.
In November, Enron restated earnings for the entire company, including units that haven't filed for bankruptcy, going back to 1997. The company said it had inflated profits over a four-year period by $586 million. The revised profit figures were $643 million in 1999, $847 million in 2000 and $5 million in the first three months of 2001.
Lay deferred $300,000 in salary during the year, according to the filing. His spokeswoman couldn't be reached to comment.
``It was sort of an insult-to-injury kind of thing,'' Jordan said. ``You could take $100 million of it and pay all the employees all the severance they're due.''
Jordan estimated that the 4,500 employees fired after Enron's bankruptcy are each owed about $19,000.
Enron last week agreed to pay $28.8 million in severance to 4,200 fired workers. The severance, which must be approved by the bankruptcy judge, would be capped at $13,500 per person, minus any bonus already paid, and would average $6,850 for each worker.
Jeffrey Skilling, the former chief executive officer who resigned in August, received $28 million, including $19.3 million in stock options that were sold, and $26.1 million in restricted stock.
Fastow's Compensation
Former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, who oversaw the off-book partnerships that toppled the company, received $2.4 million in salary, bonus and other pay, and $1.8 million in restricted stock. He didn't sell any stock under his 2001 stock- options program, the documents show. Enron has said Fastow earned more than $30 million from the partnerships.
Spokesmen for Skilling and Fastow declined to comment.
Many of Enron's executives received a fraction of what the bankruptcy filings show, according to Jacks C. Nickens, an attorney representing 12 of them. These executives had to pay taxes on shares that weren't sold, cutting into salaries or profits from stock that was sold.
Richard Causey, a Nickens client and Enron's former chief accountant who was fired before the bankruptcy filing, was paid $1.9 million in salary, bonus and incentives, and received $2.5 million in restricted stock.
Causey paid taxes on the restricted stock, which became almost worthless by the end of the year, leaving him with about $600,000 in compensation, Nickens said.
``Hardly the scenario of someone who thought the company was going to become worthless,'' he said.
Retention Bonuses
Enron's court filings also detailed bonuses of between $50,000 and $400,000 to more than 200 employees as part of a plan to keep them from leaving during the initial months of bankruptcy. Bonuses, including smaller payments and bonuses to employees with units that haven't declared bankruptcy, totaled $54.6 million.
Another list details about $50 million paid to 76 employees who were considered critical to a Nov. 7 merger agreement between Enron and rival Dynegy Inc. Dynegy backed out of the agreement three weeks later.
During 2001, Enron made about $15.2 million in political contributions, mostly to Republicans, according to the court filings. It gave $13.6 million to charities.
Enron is due a $63.2 million income-tax refund for last year, the company said. |
