More AIG Outrage: Bonus Details Revealed

What do you know, the AIG story can get worse.

Seventy-three employees were paid more than $1 million in the newly minted bonuses at the insurance giant, American International Group, according to the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo.

The attorney general provided some new details on Tuesday about some of the $160 million in bonuses that A.I.G. paid out last week in a letter sent to Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services.

"A.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees forcing a taxpayer bailout," Mr. Cuomo wrote in the letter. "Something is deeply wrong with this outcome."

Now, some have noted how foolish it is to pay those who failed "retention" bonuses to stick around and clean up the mess they created. But that's what makes today's revelations especially striking -- 11 of the employees who received bonuses of more than $1 million no longer work for the company. One of the 11 received $4.6 million.

If these folks took the money and ran, doesn't it defeat the purpose of a "retention" payment?