Friday, March 20, 2009

AIG paid $1M US or more to 73 people: Cuomo

American International Group paid out bonuses of at least $1 million US to 73 employees, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

Included in that group are 11 people who no longer work for AIG.

One employee received $6.4 million US while another seven got more than $4 million US each.

The company paid out a total of $160 million US in bonuses. The bonus money was paid out on Friday, Cuomo said.

The insurance company is under fire for paying out the bonuses as it has received billions of dollars in taxpayer money from the U.S. government as part of a bailout package to keep AIG from collapsing.

Cuomo subpoenaed the information from AIG on Monday as he investigates whether the bonus payments constitute fraud under New York law.

The bonuses went to employees of AIG's financial products division, which was the unit primarily responsible for the company's financial meltdown.

AIG has said it was contractually obligated to pay the bonus money.

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