Gary-pay-lately

2 December 2020 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

The ex-COO is sitting on $10 mln the Wall Street firm wants back as a rap for its 1MDB scandal. Even if he’s on safe legal ground it doesn’t look good for him or for Goldman, which calls its staff “culture carriers.” Cohn’s former employer at least knows when a gesture is needed.

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Goldman Sachs has not yet persuaded former Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn to return a bonus of more than $10 million as part of a wider clawback linked to the bank’s role in the 1MDB scandal, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Goldman in October agreed to pay more than $3 billion to various regulators over its role in raising funds for government-backed Malaysian fund 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, from which billions of dollars were misappropriated. It also said it would claw back $174 million in executive compensation.

The Wall Street firm tweaked the terms of some earlier awards in 2019, allowing it to hold back payments depending on how the 1MDB saga played out. Recipients affected by the change included former Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein.

Cohn cashed in his incentives when he left Goldman at the end of 2016 to lead the National Economic Council at the White House. At the time he received payments totaling roughly $65 million, according to the firm’s 2017 proxy filing.

Cohn’s failure to pay back his award was first reported on Dec. 2 by Bloomberg.

Context News

Cohn’s failure to pay back his award was first reported on Dec. 2 by Bloomberg.

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