Mary Schapiro was cleared of the first accusation:  receiving a $25 million gift upon her departure from FINRA.  She received nearly $9 million.  Now, critics say the lesser payout defies logic and ask what she did to serve a  payout of that size - for a not-for-profit organization, Investment News reports.

Yes, Ms. Schapiro received that princely sum, it was reported in FINRA's Report of the Amerivet Demand Committee - which based its findings on a 7-month, in-house investigation into, among other things, "excessive compensation" paid to FINRA executives.  According to the Report:

Ms. Schapiro received "$8,985,334.02, most of which consisted of the lump sum payment of the retirement benefits that had accrued in her favor during her 13-year tenure with FINRA.  Most of the remainder came from incentive compensation for 2008 to which she was contractually entitled.  After taking into consider all forms of compensation, including base salary, incentive compensation and retirement benefits, the total compensation paid to or accrued in favor of Ms. Schapiro during the relevant time period was not more than competitive with comparable groups." 

Nine million dollars does seem to be a lot, even for an individual in a high-up government job.   If you care to continue, refer to:   [InvestmentNews, 'Schapiro's $9M payout enrages advisers', 10/10]