United Directors Sued Over Ousted CEO's Severance Package
- Pension fund says board should clawback Jeff Smisek’s payments
- Smisek stepped down over ‘Chairman’s Flight’ scandal
United Continental Holdings Inc. airplanes sit outside the company's hangar at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
Photographer: Timothy Fadek/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
United Continental Holdings Inc. directors were sued by a pension fund for granting a $37 million severance package to the carrier’s former chief executive officer, who was ousted in a bribery scandal.
The airline’s board erred in signing off on “lavish golden parachutes” for ex-CEO Jeff Smisek and other officials forced out after investigators found a public official strong-armed United into scheduling twice-weekly flights to an airport near a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official’s vacation home, the Florida-based fund said in a lawsuit.