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By Peg Brickley Of DOW JONES DAILY BANKRUPTCY REVIEW
The former parent of the thrift that went under in the largest banking collapse in U.S. history, Washington Mutual Bank, or WaMu, allowed its own senior executives to pull millions out of a special retirement fund before it filed for bankruptcy but waged a court fight to hang on to $69 million in retirement savings socked away by employees of an acquired thrift, Home Savings of America.
WaMu's former parent, Washington Mutual Inc. (WAMUQ), won that fight Wednesday even though the judge found the company wronged Home Savings employees "in stark contrast" to the special treatment it showered on its own executives.
Among the former WaMu executives who yanked special retirement savings out of harm's way as the thrift circled the drain is former Chief Executive Kerry Killinger. Court records show Killinger pulled more than $3 million out of Washington Mutual's deferred-compensation fund on two days in late July of 2008. Within two months, WaMu was seized by regulators, and Washington Mutual raced for bankruptcy protection from creditors.
Wednesday, Judge Mary Walrath of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., noted the deference paid to the retirement needs of executives of WaMu's former parent as the company scrambled to make sure its leaders could withdraw cash from a deferred-compensation program.
Set up as tax shelters, deferred-compensation programs are special retirement vehicles that are vulnerable to creditors in bankruptcy. With WaMu on the ropes and home lenders toppling by the dozens, Washington Mutual leaders drew millions of dollars out of the Seattle company's deferred-compensation program, thanks to complex changes made to keep pace with tax law, court papers say.
The "extraordinary efforts" Washington Mutual made to guarantee its executives could reclaim their deferred-compensation contributions was in "stark contrast" to the company's treatment of former Home Savings workers, the judge said. The Home Savings workers were lied to and barred from claiming cash that they were entitled to receive when they asked for it, nearly a year before the bankruptcy filing, Walrath found.
Yet Washington Mutual gets to keep the Home Savings cash because there's no way to directly trace the Home Savings deferred-compensation contributions into the pool of money in the company's coffers, the judge said.
That means there's no separate property that can be used to correct the harm done to them. Former Home Savings retirement savers have to line up with other unsecured creditors in Washington Mutual's bankruptcy case, Walrath ruled.
During the court fight over the cash, Washington Mutual gave an "unconvincing" justification when called upon to explain itself in court, according to the judge.
Representatives testified Washington Mutual was worried changes to the tax law would trigger an audit of the Home Savings deferred-compensation fund if the withdrawals were permitted.
The judge said the company had plenty of time to reassure itself about the Home Savings withdrawals, as evidenced by the changes it made to its own plan.
Thanks to those changes, Washington Mutual "paid [its own] senior management millions in deferred compensation from the Debtors' general funds in July 2008, shortly before the debtors filed bankruptcy," the judge pointed out.
Besides Killinger, big takers from the Washington Mutual deferred-compensation program included Chief Legal Officer Fay Chapman, with more than $1.3 million withdrawals in July 2008; and Chief Human Resources Officer Daryl David, who pulled out more than $3 million that month alone.
A lawyer for the Home Savings plan participants who fought Washington Mutual's claim to the cash Thursday declined to comment on the decision. It sends money they set aside in Home Savings' deferred-compensation retirement program into the general pool of money for Washington Mutual creditors.
The cash is a drop in the $7 billion bucket accumulated in the Chapter 11 case of Washington Mutual, a Seattle bank-holding company that filed for protection in September 2008 after WaMu was seized by regulators.
(Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review covers news about distressed companies and those under bankruptcy protection.)
-By Peg Brickley, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review; 302-521-2266; peg.brickley@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 02, 2011 14:48 ET (18:48 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/markets/newsfeeditem.aspx?id=142552112279166
wirklich in der Zeile verrutschr...sollte informativ sein...
Was habt ihr gedacht, was passiert? Habt Ihr wirklich gedacht wir steigen jetzt in unermesliche höhen? Habt Ihr echt gedacht wir werden in paar Tagen reiche unmögliche induviduen?.. Tja da muss ich euch enttäuschen... so ist es nicht ... Wir wissen noch garnichts, kein pups. Das einzige was wir wissen ist "die Ausbuchung ist vom tisch" ... Wir sollen etwas bekommen? Was daß ist, weis keiner.. Und hier geht es ab wie auf dem kirmes...Einfach COOL bleiben ... und jeder sollte wissen wann er was zu tun hat .. ABER VERGISST EINS NICHT :::::DAS HIER IST WAMU:: :: HIER GELTEN WEDER DIE PHSIKALISCHEN NOCH DIE MENNSCHLICHEN REGELN. ( Es ist eine andere Dimension ) ..
Und jetzt haltet mal die Eier locker.. ;-))
WAMUQ / The Definition of an Emotional Roller Coaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQzQYFYfy8
Seite 5555 #138658 Dein Posting : Fresse jetzt , hier gehts um WAMUQ , tragt euren Bullshit per Bm aus !
Und dafür 24 Sternchen bekommen.
Seite5556 #138889 Achterbahnfahrt
Wo ist denn hier Dein Zusammenhang zu WaMu?
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