NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global Crossing Ltd. (GBLXQ) Chairman Gary Winnick said he personally funded a $25 million pledge made to company employees 11 weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Winnick's pledge represents the money contributed by Global Crossing employees to their 401 (k) retirement-savings plan from the time of the firm's merger with Frontier Corp. in October 1999 to Global's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in January 2002, the report said. Winnick made the initial pledge in front of a congressional committee investigating the firm, which is facing separate civil and criminal probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department, the newspaper said.

Winnick himself is under investigation for his sale of $124 million in company stock in May 2001. Overall, Winnick sold $735 million in Global Crossing shares. At the hearing, Winnick encouraged executives of other distressed companies to "step up and write a check" to cover employees' retirement losses. He had originally hoped to fund the money through the 401 (k) plan, which would have shielded employees from paying taxes, according to the article. But it now appears that employees will be taxed on Winnick's donations.