Equifax announced today that CEO Richard Smith, the man at the helm during one of the biggest security breaches of personal information in U. S. history, was "retiring."

While Smith, 57, the former CEO of General Electric, is leaving under a cloud, he may end up having as much as $90 million to ease his way into his golden years. The agreement between Equifax and Smith does not specify what the final financial settlement will be. That will be determined after an investigation. Smith has agreed to give up his annual bonus, which if 2016 is any indicator to go by, would be at least $3 million.

Smith is unlikely to miss the $3 million, however, if he is able to cash in on stock options and other streams of revenue, according to Fortune magazine. These include $72 million this year alone and $90 million total.

Million dollar base salary for former Equifax CEO only small portion of his pay package

A definitive proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March shows that Smith's base salary was $1,450,000, but as with many CEOs of major companies, much of his pay package comes in stock options, bonuses, and benefits.

Smith's bonus for 2016 was $3,045,000 and his total pay package was worth $14,984,567, according to the filing, including $7,323,095 in stock options. Though he was making millions, Smith's benefits package included financial planning services, annual medical evaluations, club dues and event tickets, and ironically, monitoring of his home Security system.

While his generous pay package covered monitoring his own security, Smith was shown the door following a breach that exposed the Social Security numbers, birth dates, and personal financial information of millions. While other Equifax executives could be fired for their roles in the security breach because they were "at-will" employees, Smith signed an employment agreement with the company when he took the helm in 2005.

The agreement spelled out the types of severance packages he could receive, depending on whether he left of his own volition, was removed as a result of a company takeover, was fired or resigned.

Despite the news release saying Smith had retired, it noted that Equifax could change that characterization, pending the results of its investigation into the events that occurred. It will focus on what made the security breach possible and actions taken by Smith once he discovered the breach. Three other Equifax executives who served under Smith, but not Smith, sold stocks when the news of the security breach was about to be made public.
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