Tillerson – Trump’s nominee cuts ties with ExxonMobil

Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of state, has cut his ties with oil giant ExxonMobil and will receive a retirement package valued at 180 million dollars, the company said.

Details of the agreement in regulatory filings on Wednesday outline that the company’s former chief executive will defer retirement compensation and place the proceeds in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest while serving as the top US diplomat.

Instead of receiving more than 2 million shares of Exxon stocks that he was due over the next decade, the company will instead pay Tillerson the cash value of the shares and the money will be placed in a blind trust.

Tillerson also agreed to forgo 4.1 million dollars in cash bonuses that he was due to receive over the next three years along with other benefits from the company. He will also sell some 600,000 shares of Exxon stock he already owns.

The steps leave Tillerson with 7 million dollars less in compensation than he would have received if he had remained at the helm of the company rather than retiring last week in order to serve as secretary of state.

Tillerson’s nomination must be approved by the Senate. He is expected to have a confirmation hearing next week and could face tough questions about his ties to Russia while at the oil company.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal critic of Trump and a national security hawk, said Tillerson would have a difficult time winning his vote if he does not back intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the US presidential election that Trump has questioned.

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