- Published reports out of Arkansas say that Thomas Coughlin, the former vice chairman of Wal-Mart who was forced from the company amid charges of fraud and financial shenanigans, showed up in court yesterday to argue that he should be allowed to keep his $12 million retirement package.
A ruling on the request is expected within a matter of weeks.
Coughlin retired as vice chairman last January, but left the board of directors earlier than expected because an internal investigation charged that he had used expense account money for his own purposes. Coughlin, however, has maintained that he used the money to pay off informers who told him about union activity, and that the company knew about it.
Wal-Mart is trying to void Coughlin’s retirement package, and also has turned over the results of its internal probe to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
