Ex-WAMU executive lists home for $6.25 million

Stephen Rotella, who was president and chief operating officer of Washington Mutual when it failed last month after being battered by mortgage losses, has listed his house on Capitol Hill for $6.25 million.

Rotella, who was president and chief operating officer, is entitled under his current employment agreement to a cash severance of $12.7 million if he is terminated or quits with "good reason."

He and his wife Esther bought the house for $3.78 million a few months after Rotella arrived in Seattle, from KING-TV newscaster Jean Enerson, in June 2005. It's a 7,430-square-foot house and has five bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a wine cellar and a fountain in the yard. It's located on almost an acre of land on the top of Capitol Hill, right behind Lake View Cemetery, where Bruce Lee is buried. Quiet neighbors.