Lasser to Lasso in $78 Million

The former CEO of Putnam Investments, Lawrence J. Lasser, has settled his severance package dispute with the company and will receive $78 million from the parent firm, Marsh & McLennan, according to reports.

The company had charged that Lasser was responsible for the management oversights that led to improper trading, and later civil charges against Putnam.

A regulatory filing disclosing Lasser’s severance pact said that most of the $78 million was deferred money that he had already earned. Marsh & McLennan said it had actually set aside an additional $25 million as well, but sliced the number down to $78 million. Technically, the company says that the money it is paying to Lasser is not severance, even though his lawyer disagreed.

Marsh spokeswoman Barbara Perlmutter told The Wall Street Journal, "We believe this is a good settlement for shareholders and for Putnam and for employees," adding that Lasser is getting "substantially less" than what he asked for. Another part of the settlement, called the most important by Lasser attorney Daniel A. Pollack, removed the possibility of a "terminated for cause" tag being placed on Lasser’s reason for leaving.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Money Management Executive
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING