Lewis Due a Mere $53M From BofA Pension Plan

But President Obama's pay czar could yet step in on that, millions in stock
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 1, 2009 8:08 PM CDT
Lewis Due a Mere $53M From BofA Pension Plan
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, center, is surrounded by reporters as he arrives at the New York Attorney General's office Feb. 26, 2009.   (AP Photo)

An executive pension plan Bank of America stopped in 2001—along with “golden parachute” balloon payments to execs leaving the company—will yield about $53 million for departing CEO Ken Lewis. Lewis, 62, participated for years in the plan, which was frozen the year he ascended to the top job. Anyone who bought BofA stock that year, Fortune notes, would currently be underwater on their investment.

And though Lewis’ plan Lewis pre-dates the federal bailout, President Obama’s pay czar could yet take a look at the arrangement—to which Lewis could add more than $70 million in stock and other compensation. “Does the pay czar have the ability to overturn a contract? The answer is no, I would guess,” one analyst tells Reuters. “If it ever gets litigated, it will be interesting to see what a pay czar can do.”
(More Ken Lewis stories.)

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