P.M. BRIEFING : Official Who Quit Gets Severance

CHICAGO — Former Chicago Board of Trade Chairman Karsten Mahlmann, who stepped down amid charges his trading firm misused customers’ funds, will get $120,000 in severance pay, exchange officials said today.

Mahlmann, who headed Stotler Group Inc., resigned from his company and the Board of Trade last week after federal officials charged the company with using customer funds to shore up its own finances.

Exchange officials said Board of Trade directors voted last Thursday to pay Mahlmann, nicknamed “Cash,” for the rest of his term, which was scheduled to expire Jan. 22. His post paid $240,000 a year.

Stotler was forced into involuntary bankruptcy Friday, and a special master has been placed in charge of three of the company’s customer funds. U.S. District Judge Milton I. Shadur has frozen all of Stotler’s assets.