Deceased Monster Founder Realized $70 Million From VPFC Exchange

The deceased founder of global employment website Monster.com realized more than $70 million of short-term capital gain after amending a variable prepaid forward contract, the US Tax Court said Thursday.

When Andrew McKelvey, the founder and CEO of Monster Worldwide Inc., exchanged one set of VPFCs for another, the act terminated his obligations under the first set, meaning he should have reported the gain from the transactions, the court said.

McKelvey entered into VPFCs with Bank of America NA and Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc in 2007. Under the VPFCs, the banks made cash payments to McKelvey, and he ...