A bankruptcy judge cleared NII Holdings Inc.’s top executives to potentially earn millions of dollars in bonuses, telling a federal watchdog that its objection to the payout plan “completely stunned” her, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman yesterday authorized the Latin American Nextel carrier to pay its executives and senior managers bonuses tied to the company’s performance and the success of its chapter 11 case. The targeted total payout is approximately $9 million, though that could rise or fall depending upon how the company does. Before approving the plan, Judge Chapman questioned why a government attorney was objecting to the bonuses, which she called “a classic incentive program.”
