AIG executives to return $50M in bonuses

Up to 15 of the 20 AIG employees who received the largest bonuses will return them voluntarily, says the New York state attorney general.

Of the top ten bonus recipients, nine will return the benefit, and of the top 20, 15 have agreed to return the money, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. 

Cuomo added that other American International Group Inc. executives were either refusing to give back the bonus or were still undecided. 

"I applaud the employees who are returning the bonuses… I think they are being responsive to the American people,'' he said during a conference call with reporters. 

Cuomo said that he hopes to get more money back for the American people, adding that his office is optimistic about recovering $80 million of the bonuses through voluntary returns. 

In total, AIG employees have agreed to return about $50 million of the awards so far, he explained. 

According to the New York Attorney General, the amount the top 15 executives have promised to return will return $30 million of $165 million handed out by the giant insurer on March 15. 

News of AIG's huge bonus payments caused a scandal in the United States, as the troubled insurer recently received $170 billion in taxpayer money to help it survive the economic crisis.