The former CEO of
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 Lassers 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 Lassers reason for leaving.