The U.S. Treasury Department signed off on General Motors Co. pay packages that broke a pledge to cap cash salaries at $500,000 in most cases at companies bailed out by the federal government, according to a watchdog report, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Sixteen top employees at GM and the automaker’s former lending unit, Ally Financial Inc., were approved cash salaries of $525,000 to $1.7 million last year, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) said in a report yesterday, though it didn’t identify the executives. The report sheds more light on the decision-making behind the government’s 2009 rescue of the automobile industry during the recession and efforts to retain executives to run the companies. The Office of the Special Master for TARP pay, or OSM, was under pressure by the companies it oversaw to provide competitive pay packages or risk losing top executives. The Treasury-approved salaries exceeded pledged limits even after it was clear taxpayers wouldn’t recover all the bailout money injected into GM and Ally, the inspector general said. Even when taking into account those making less than $500,000, cash salaries last year for 25 of the highest paid workers at GM and Ally exceeded TARP’s agreed upon market median for those positions, according to the report.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-09-24/gm-salaries-busted-u-s-b…
The Treasury responded that the report contained "many inaccuracies and omissions," saying the department balanced limits on executive compensation "with allowing companies to repay taxpayer assistance,” Reuters reported yesterday. Treasury said that executive pay packages for the top executives at GM and Ally were "restricted" while those companies were receiving government funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. In April, Treasury said it lost $11.2 billion on the $49.5-billion GM bailout.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/24/usa-treasury-gm-idUSL2N0RP18J…