Wachovia Bigs Cash In Before Golden West Announcement

Ben Jenkins III and Alice Lehman, two top executives at Wachovia Corp., made a total of $1.7 million by selling stock options about 10 days before the bank announced it was acquiring Golden West Financial Corp.,The Charlotte Business Journal reports. A spokesman for Wachovia, however, says Jenkins, vice chairman and head of consumer banking, and Lehman, head of investor relations, were unaware of merger talks when they made their transactions. Though talks with Golden West had been going on for weeks, serious discussion about the deal didn’t occur until the late April. According to the Journal, Jenkins made $409,000 and Lehman about $1.3 million from their respective sales.