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Non-Tech : MFN Mercury Finance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KEVIN C SMITH who wrote (1126)	3/31/1998 12:36:00 AM
From: Mach 2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1239

Dow Jones Newswires -- March 30, 1998 Mercury Finance Ex-Pres, CEO Received 1997 Salary $476,666 CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Mercury Finance Co. (MFN), the battered car loan concern, paid John N. Brincat $476,666 in salary last year, even though Brincat resigned as president and chief executive less than two months into the year. Brincat, who presided over the January 1997 collapse of Mercury's once high-flying stock amid an accounting scandal, remained an employee until Dec. 1, 1997, Mercury said in a 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also disclosed that Brincat repaid $1 million in bonus money to the company out of combined 1995 and 1996 bonuses of about $1.96 million. The company had previously diclosed that he repaid some bonus funds, but hadn't said how much. Brincat was replaced as Mercury Finance CEO by William A. Brandt Jr., a bankruptcy and corporate workout specialist. According to Mercury's 10-K, Brandt was paid $750,000 in 1997 as an individual, and his firm, Development Specialists Inc., was paid $2.4 million based on hourly billings by at least seven officials. The hourly rates of the DSI officials ranged from a high of $280 to a low of $75, according to the 10-K. Brincat, under a January 1994 employment agreement, was to receive 1997 salary of at least $520,000 and 1998 salary of $600,000. As part of a termination agreement, he waived rights to certain benefits, though Mercury didn't say in the filing precisely which ones. Officials at the company couldn't immediately be reached for comment. As reported, Mercury engaged in accounting irregularities and overstated its profits for four years. During that time, it was a fast-rising stock and star of the so-called sub-prime lending industry, which makes loans to working class consumers that have spotty credit histories. After the irregularities were disclosed, Mercury's stock plunged, wiping out more than $2 billion in market value. Since those developments in early 1997, the company has been selling off assets, closing loan offices and liquidating part of its car loan portfolio to repay lenders and stay afloat. Brandt said last July that he was seeking a permanent CEO to replace himself, but one hasn't been announced yet. The company's lenders have cooperated rather than throw Mercury into bankruptcy court, on the assertion by Brandt that the firm is worth more as an operating entity than in a pure liquidation.