Nine of the top ten AIG bonus recipients have given back the payouts, according to Andrew Cuomo, the New York Attorney General who is probing the issue.
Cuomo also said, on a conference call this afternoon, that 15 of the top 20 bonus recipients from the firm’s financial products unit, which is at the center of the bonus furor after causing the company’s collapse last year, have returned their awards.
But he added something else that may wind up being less exculpatory for AIG: 47 percent of the $165 million in retention bonuses was awarded to Americans, he said, declaring that he expected to get that money back. That means 53 percent — around $87 million — of taxpayer money went to foreigners, and is unlikely to be recouped.
Cuomo said he didn’t think it would be in the public interest to release the names of those who gave back the bonuses, and that his office is still assessing the risks of releasing any names at all.