Tillerson ExxonMobil Retirement Deal: Trump's Secretary Of State Pick To Receive $180 Million In Retirement Package

United States President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet pick for the position of secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, is set to receive more than $180 million as he severs his ties with his former company–ExxonMobil.

If Tillerson, the former chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil, is confirmed to the post through upcoming hearings before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that start from Jan. 11, he will be paid in cash for his previously set retirement package that was pegged at the value of two million unvested shares over the next ten years and the money will be transferred to an independently managed trust, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Upon confirmation, Tillerson would be committed to selling his more than 600,000 vested Exxon shares worth about $54 million. However, had Tillerson retired with the company in March as planned, rather than stepping down as Exxon CEO on Jan. 1 after his nomination to the post of secretary of state was announced, he would not have lost $7 million from the retirement deal.

The deal, designed to comply with federal ethics rules and to avoid any situation of potential conflict of interest or office for profit also stipulates some checks and balances. Tillerson has been prohibited from working in the oil and gas industry for a period of ten years. If Tillerson violates the terms of the deal, he would have to forfeit his payout secured in the trust and it would be donated to charities “involved in fighting poverty or disease in the developing world,” according to Exxon.

However, some such as Charles Elson, a professor of governance at the University of Delaware, believe that by allowing Tillerson to fully divest from Exxon, one can make the case that the company is granting millions of dollars to Tillerson, just as he is on the cusp of taking a position that can affect the company’s business results.

“Exxon is trying to make the best of a tough situation…It would be unfair to take it all away, but vesting his shares would create a lot of problems. They’re trying to give him value for what he accomplished and also protect the company. There’s no easy solution to this,” Elson was quoted saying to Wall Street Journal.