For the sake of the experiment, the researchers promised immediate compensation to some participants and deferred compensation to others, regardless of the incentive scheme.

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"Immediate relief and long-term compensation must be provided by the brands who were sourcing from these factories, and responsibility taken for their lack of action to prevent this happening, " she said in a statement to the BBC.

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So Towers Perrin came up with the clever idea of having Enron buy the contracts, providing the Lays with immediate liquidity, and hold them as deferred compensation for Mr. Lay with the idea that they would be transferred back in the future under a cliff vesting schedule.

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The oil producer could face compensation claims for as much as three times the immediate economic loss.

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"Companies are usually generous'' when long-serving executives leave for family or health reasons, and "often provide immediate vesting of outstanding options, '' said Mr. Reilly, a partner at Compensation Consulting Consortium LLC in Chicago.

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This kind of equipment-for-oil compensation deal -- predicated on necessarily vague and speculative terms to spare Moscow the problem of immediate, hard currency payments -- is altogether too easily translated into "debt forgiveness" in the future.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy