Comey to Receive $3 Million Payout if Confirmed as FBI Head

James Comey, nominated to be the next director of the FBI, will receive a payout of $3.07 million from hedge fund Bridgewater Associates if he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Comey, who left his position as Bridgewater’s general counsel in January, would receive the money as a “full payout” of his interests in the company’s profit-sharing plan, according to a questionnaire filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Should Comey be confirmed by the Senate, the money would be paid “prior to the date that I assume the position” as FBI director, according to the 32-page questionnaire, signed by Comey and dated June 26.

Russell Sherman, a spokesman for Bridgewater, didn’t have an immediate comment on the payout.

Comey, a former deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush, was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 21 to take over the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is scheduled to testify Tuesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for the nomination.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the panel, has said he plans to look into Comey’s work at Bridgewater, a Westport, Conn., firm that is the world’s largest hedge fund. Grassley, who complimented Comey’s work on national security issues and his independence, said in a June statement that he remained “interested in his recent work in the hedge fund industry.”

Comey already is facing questions from civil liberties groups and some Senate Democrats over his role in the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects, as well as recent disclosures about the scope of the federal government’s secret surveillance programs.

Still, lawmakers on both sides have lauded Obama’s pick of a lawyer who also served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and, after he departed the Bush administration, the general counsel of Lockheed Martin.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary panel, called for the “swift and respectful confirmation” of Comey by the Senate. Comey, if confirmed, would replace current FBI Director Robert Mueller, who has held the job since September 2001.