Those Citadel stock grants to the execs magically turned back into stock options. Texas-based Citadel investor R2 (R squared) blew the whistle on what it said were tens of millions of dollars worth of improper outright grants of stock – mostly to CEO Farid Suleman. He could’ve made $40-50 million or more. And the board members who went along were in for paydays of $1.3 million each.
To squelch the static in bankruptcy court and in the court of public opinion, Citadel agreed to rescind the grants and return to the original plan of issuing incentive-building stock options.
Now we get the SEC filings for five top Citadel executives, and Farid still gets far more than the other four. But both sets of options being offered (priced at $28 and $32) are underwater. Citadel’s post-bankruptcy stock closed yesterday at $24.50 on the over-the-counter pink sheets.
So as Citadel continues its recovery, here’s what Farid has tacked on his wall. He has 1,897,193 options at $28 ($53,121,404) and 632,398 at $32 ($20,236,736).
COO Judy Ellis has nearly 100,000 options at $28 (@$2,200,000) and 33,265 at $28 ($931,420).
General Counsel Judith Orr and CFO Randy Taylor both have about 80,000 options at $28 and 26,613 at $32. And Senior VP of Finance & Administration Patricia Stratford has 56,137 at $28 and 18,711 at $32. The options begin vesting next June 3 and vest over the next three years. They expire in 2020.
Oh, the directors are also incentivized. They get 47,434 options at $28 ($1,328,152) and 15,811 at $32 ($505,952).
