Connecticut's attorney general says documents turned over to his office by American International Group Inc. shows the company paid out $218 million in bonuses, higher than the $165 million previously disclosed.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office received the documents late Friday after issuing a subpoena.
Blumenthal says the documents show that 73 people received at least $1 million apiece, and five of those got bonuses of more than $4 million. The financially ailing insurance giant has been under fire for giving bonuses after receiving more than $182.5 billion in federal bailout money.
AIG spokesman Mark Herr declined to comment Saturday.
Blumenthal said the newly revealed number will "further fuel the justified anger and revulsion that people feel."
AIG bonuses higher than disclosed - $218MM not $165MM
WASHINGTON - The political scandal over AIG bonuses hit a new high on Saturday as US media reported the bailed-out insurance giant paid 218 million dollars, over 50 million more than had been disclosed.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal calculated the new figures for bonuses paid out by the embattled American International Group after receiving documents from the company Friday, the Hartford Courant reported.
The company was quick to reject Blumenthal's number, asserting that the bonuses amounted to the previously disclosed total of 165 million dollars.
AIG spokesman Joseph Norton said that the company's CEO, Edward Liddy, had fully explained the bonuses to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
"Mr Liddy said in his correspondence to Mr Geithner that a payment under the retention program was made in December before this latest March payment," Norton said.
"At this point, not having seen what Mr Blumenthal said, we believe that's what he is referring to. The March payments were 165 million dollars, not 218 million dollars."
Blumenthal told the newspaper he was not referring only to bonus payments made in March.
"We've not only added the numbers, but the company has given us documents that have the number at 218 million dollars," Blumenthal said.
"Some of that total is from earlier bonuses, but the main point is all of it seems to be out of taxpayer funds ... Whether the payments were made in December or March seems to be beside the point. The total that was disclosed so far was 165 million dollars."
In a legal document, AIG said "about 55 million dollars of retention pay was previously paid around December" while another 93 million was scratched "because of losses at the company," according to the Courant.
The federal government has already pumped over 170 billion dollars of taxpayer money into AIG.
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