DSK May Get $250K Severance Deal

The Daily Mail reports:

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to receive a $250,000 'golden parachute' severance payment - and American taxpayers will help fund it.

The former International Monetary Fund chief, who quit after being charged with sexually assaulting a New York hotel maid, is also due to be handed a pension.

U.S. Congressmen reacted angrily to the deal but conceded they are almost powerless to stop it from going ahead.

They may be able to prevent it if they threaten to reduce or withdraw the U.S. contribution to the fund.

But this seems unlikely to happen, after the IMF admitted it had 'no discretion' over the deal, signed in 2007, which states Strauss-Kahn would receive a severance payout if he resigned after at least two years.

'What does it say about the IMF that its managing director has a higher annual salary than the president of the United States, that he stays at $3,000-per-night hotel rooms, and that he gets a quarter of a million dollars in severance pay while awaiting charges for attempted rape?' asked Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

She also questioned whether the IMF, which has said its hands are tied on the deal, have 'more leeway' than it was letting on.

She added: 'American taxpayers, who pay the largest share of the IMF's bills, are raising a lot of important questions.

"Many companies can deny severance pay to any executive fired 'for cause.'

'That is not happening in the IMF's case.

'It's becoming more and more clear that the 'culture of entitlement' that is demonstrated by Mr Strauss-Kahn's lifestyle set a tone for the organisation as a whole.' ...