Jefferies CEO Rich Handler turned down his $2.17 million bonus

After a challenging year, CEO Richard B. Handler and Chairman Brian Friedman have both decided to decline their $2.17 million cash bonuses, according to a new filing, via Bloomberg.

"Although achievement of performance targets would have entitled Messrs. Handler and Friedman to receive cash bonuses in the amount of $2.17 million each, after consultation with Messrs. Handler and Friedman, during which Messrs. Handler and Friedman recommend to the Compensation Committee that they receive no cash bonus for fiscal year 2014, the Compensation Committee exercised negative discretion and reduced Messrs. Handler and Friedman's cash bonus to $0," the filing said.

Last year was tough for Jefferies. In 2014, shares of the bank's parent company, Leucadia National Corp, slumped nearly 19%. (Handler is also the CEO of Leucadia.)

The firm also had to deal with a messy and very public divorce involving one of its top bankers.

This isn't the first time Handler has gone bonus-less, though. He declined his bonus for 2011. 

That being said, Handler is a huge shareholder of Leucadia. He owns more than 11.3 million shares. His stake is currently valued at around $263.45 million.