IMF Clarifies Amount of Strauss-Kahn's Pension

CNBC

Dominique Strauss-Kahn in court.

This correction is based on new details from an IMF spokesperson, who provided incorrect information to CNBC yesterday.

IMF press officer Alistair Thomson now says that the IMF has reviewed Dominique Strass-Kahn's pension situation in more detail and discovered he is eligible for a one-time payout of more than $250,000 and will get the standard pension that everyone else at the IMF receives.

The change from the original story is that Strauss-Kahn will not get 65 percent of his annual salary on top of that as an annual payment. Instead, he will collect the normal pension, plus a bonus of 65 percent of whatever the pension plan pays.

Thomson says the IMF will not disclose amount of the annual pension payout, so it will be impossible to calculate Strauss-Kahn's total pension going forward. "I apologize to you for bum guidance," he said.

Original article, published May 19, 2011:

No matter how his legal case turns out, CNBC has learned that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will collect at least a quarter million dollars a year from the IMF in pension payouts for the rest of his life.

According to the IMF, the global financial institution is contractually obligated to pay Strauss-Kahn a standard staff pension, plus an enhanced supplemental retirement allowance and a "separation allowance" that was negotiated in his original contract.

Under the contract, an IMF spokesman told CNBC, Strauss-Kahn is eligible to take part in a Staff Retirement Plan that the rest of the employees at the IMF also participate in. On top of that, Strauss-Kahn is eligible for a Supplemental Retirement Allowance which will pay between 60 and 70 percent of his annual salary, which was $420,930 per year when he was hired.

At three years of service, Strauss-Kahn was entitled to 60 percent of his annual salary, and he would have been entitled to 70 percent if he had reached four years. Since he did not, the partial year will be pro-rated.

And, the spokesman said, Strauss Kahn's contract also entitles him to a "Separation Allowance," a one-time payout of between 60 and 70 percent of his highest annual salary while at the bank.

Sixty percent of Strauss Kahn's first year base comes to just over $252,000.