US banks paid $ 32.6 billion in bonuses: Andrew Cuomo

In his crusade against Wall Street bonuses during a depressed economy, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said that nearly a dozen banks paid out more than $32.6 billion in bonuses in 2008 even as they received $175 billion in taxpayer's money.

After conducting a nine-month investigation into compensation practices in the American banking system, Cuomo, releasing his report titled, No Rhyme Or Reason, 'The Heads I Win, Tails You Lose:  Bank Bonus Culture, says, ''Thus, when the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well. And when the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well.''

In his analysis of the 2008 bonuses and earnings paid at the nine TARP recipients, two firms, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch suffered massive losses of more than $27 billion at each firm. Nevertheless, Citigroup paid out $5.33 billion in bonuses and Merrill paid $3.6 billion in bonuses.

Despite their combined loss of $54 billion, the two banks collectively paid out nearly $9 billion in bonuses and then received government bailouts totaling $55 billion.

Three other firms - Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan Chase made bonus payments substantially greater than their net income.

Goldman earned $2.3 billion, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding, Morgan Stanley earned $1.7 billion, paid $4.475 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding, while JP Morgan Chase earned $5.6 billion, paid $8.69 billion in bonuses, and received $25 billion in TARP funding.

The report says that these three firms collectively earned $9.6 billion, paid bonuses of nearly $18 billion, and received TARP taxpayer funds worth $45 bil1ion.

Cuomo says other banks like State Street and Bank of New York Melon, paid bonuses that were more in line with their net income, in lne with what one would expect in a difficult year like 2008.