Geithner Received $434,668 Severance Package From NY Federal Reserve Bank

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is no Hank Paulson when it comes to his personal finances.

Geithner's financial disclosure filing released Tuesday showed he has assets valued at between $740,000 and $1.7 million. His biggest asset is partial ownership of vacation property on Cape Cod in Massachusetts valued between $250,000 and $500,000.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a 32-year veteran of investment firm Goldman Sachs, had an estimated net worth of more than $700 million when he joined the Bush administration in 2006.

To obey conflict of interest rules, Paulson agreed to sell over 3.2 million shares of stock in Goldman Sachs that were valued at more than $480 million in the summer of 2006.

Geithner was confirmed by the Senate on Monday by a 60-34 vote with those opposing the nomination expressing unhappiness with Geithner's explanation of why he had failed initially to pay $34,023 in self-employment taxes earlier in the decade when he worked for the International Monetary Fund.

The new disclosure filing showed that Geithner earned $411,200 in wages last year in his former job as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. He also received a severance payment from the bank totaling $434,668.

Fed officials explained that the money listed on the disclosure form as a severance payment was the value of the supplemental retirement fund which the regional Fed banks provide to their presidents and first vice presidents. Since Geithner was going to another job and not retiring, he had the option of cashing out the current value of the fund and taking it as a lump sum payment.

Most of Geithner's investments were in various kinds of mutual funds with the size of the holdings ranging from $1,000 to $100,000.

The government's financial disclosure forms only require that assets be revealed in broad ranges.

Comments

[john galt]

09:23 PM on 02/04/2009

A severance payment of $434,668 for 5 years of service is pretty nice...it would be nice if more details were given on this issue...especially since the Fed is a private corporation owned by the banks...

[john galt]

09:15 PM on 02/04/2009

Geithner's disdain for paying taxes is clear: he only paid when confronted (e.g. caught by the IRS) and then only what was specifically owed and did not attempt to fully correct for past underpayment based on his ignorance of rules/specific violation of rules. Only after his appointment did chose to do the right thing on past taxes. When you add in the Bloomberg story about taking a dependent care deduction for a sleep away summer camp, and the housekeeper's legal status change it seems highly inappropriate for an administration that sounds the rhetoric on high ethical standards.

Most of all, however, my disappointment is with the failure to think anew - and get fresh perspectives. Geithner was in the thick of the policy blunders, miscalculations, panic induced trials by fires, and largely asleep during the critical times periods in the prior years. So havent we rewarded him with a plum job for rather questionable success. And, isnt what's needed a whole new look at the problem - should we had some in from the outside (e.g. someone not close to Paulson, Bernanke, and finance titans) that could take a whole new look at the mess...and seriously question the judegments of Bernanke, Paulson, and others to find the best possible way out of the crisis. Obama seems to think a steady but ethnically challenged hand that Geithner is the what's needed...why wasnt Giethner rebuking Merrill on bonus pay outs before it happened...say on Dec 26...

[john galt]

03:46 PM on 02/04/2009

Also the story from Forbes that Treasury Secretary Paulson paid no/little tax on this near $500 million payout from Goldman in 2006...makes me sick... (http://www.forbes.com/2006/06/01/paulson-tax-loophole-cx_jh_0602paultax.html). Sure seems the deck is stacked...

[john galt]

03:44 PM on 02/04/2009

Any one know if other past Presidents of the New York Fed got such severance packages. And if so, when did this policy go into effect? I do not recall ever hearing/reading about this perk. Also, I remember reading he got a low-interest loan from a money center bank to buy a house when he moved from Washington DC to New York in 2003...was it Citi? If so, wouldn`t that be a conflict of interest - especially if the terms were more lient that typically allowed? I wonder who owns the other half of the house he has in the Cape? I am also curious as to why there wasn't more discussion at his confirmation of: 1) investment returns from the Bear Stearns bailout...remember 29 billion came from us...Bloomberg has an article today saying the Fed has lost a huge amount 2) six months went by between Bear Stearns liquidation and Lehman's death so if Geithner says he/Fed could not rescue Lehman b/c they lacked the authority, so isn't the obvious question why didnt he/Fed aggressively pursue getting the necessary authority in those six months? 3) why did the Fed fail to appreciate the money market fallout from Lehman's demise 4) why didnt the Fed suspect the jig was up on mortgage securitization when some mortgage players couldnt rollover their CP in the early summer of 2007...5) the Fed waited until late Sept/early October of 2007 to lower rates...why?

[pc51]

07:21 PM on 01/29/2009

"The height of irresponsibility." or " Do as we say, not as we do." Feds! -Get used to the doubletalk America, Uncle Sam owns you now.

[brighterlight]

11:09 AM on 01/29/2009

This is a non-issue. He got his final paycheck (severence pay = final pay) and it included his retirement money. Big deal! Get over it and give us some real news.

[robertny49]

12:10 AM on 01/29/2009

With his level of experience and education he could have made millions in the private sector. And by the way, he not nearly as rich as most of the Senators.

[uncomplicatedlife]

11:52 PM on 01/28/2009

I wish I was as poor as this guy!

[PlayTOE]

11:47 PM on 01/28/2009

Now if this level of scrutiny had been done on all of the Bush appointees over the past eight years, then things would be WAY better now.

[Maschine]

11:05 PM on 01/28/2009

these guys all stink . they are all tainted.

www.deepcapture.com

Wake up.

[RedDonnaAnn]

11:04 PM on 01/28/2009

Government as usual. This guy never should have been on the list much less been confirmed after his tax evasion was revealed. And he did not have the moral turpitude to step down. More of the shame, people, more of the shame. I mean same and you know it. Right?

[blurredtruth]

10:51 PM on 01/28/2009

The rich get richer.

[RedDonnaAnn]

11:04 PM on 01/28/2009

And the poor have babies.

[MyTake]

10:12 PM on 01/28/2009

A retirement fund payout! This Private Central Bank sure looks after their own. Here is another headline: Millions of American workers lost an average of 27 percent of their 401(k) retirement savings in 2008.

But it is nice to know that he had this little fund to draw from to pay his back taxes!

But it is not the money. It is his membership in the Council on Foreign Relations that should be investigated. Not investigated judicially but investigated by the public-at-large. Just using the internet sources, 90% of the Obama administration appointments were culled from the 3000 membership roster of CFR, a organization that enjoys perfect corporate media protection. A organization that is funded by and shows its Chairman Emeritus as David Rockefeller.

It gets better. Look here on this short YouTube clip of your favorite Vice President mocking government over his director membership in CFR: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=XOAk-7F1EVU . And here is a longer version tying it all together: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=BbnpN07J_zg&feature=related .

So I wonder if Rockefeller put Geithner into that job!

[tonybfine]

09:29 PM on 01/28/2009

Well his salary, though high, is not outrageously so (not 10's or 100's of millions per year like some CEOs) and this pension fund is on the order of a year's salary. Nothing at all suspicious. My only hope is that he can do a good job in line with our President's aspirations.

[bygollymissmolly]

08:23 PM on 01/28/2009

IT WAS NOT A SEVERANCE PACKAGE, IT WAS HIS RETIREMENT ACCOUNT.

God, HP I am so sick and tired of you misrepresenting things to make the Democrats look bad. You are following in your brethren footsteps (Politico) and are becoming another Fixed News of the Internet.