US banks paid bonuses even more than they earn, reports NY Attorney General

According to the Thursday statement of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, nine Wall Street banks gave out a total of $33 billion in 2008 bonuses to employees, in spite of losing billions of dollars and receiving an unprecedented government bailout. 

The report considered nine banks, which received a total of $175 billion in government funds in 2008. Some of those banks, such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, have already paid back those funds.

Cuomo's report showed that Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, that is currently owned by Bank of America, paid out $9 billion in 2008 bonuses while it received government bailouts of $55 billion in total and lost $54 billion last year.

At the same time, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase in 2008 doled out more bonuses than they earned.

The report comes as the House considers a bill this week to give shareholders a say on pay for top executives. The findings could add momentum to ongoing efforts to reform executive compensation. Lawmakers accused Wall Street's pay structure of supporting precipitate the financial collapse by boosting traders to jeopardize.