In order to get a giant honking bailout from Congress, AIG pledged it would give up executives annual bonuses, but guess what? They found a way to give them anyway.

Instead, they’re giving 130 managers “cash awards” to stick around. Retirement services chief Jay Wintrob will get $3 million in retention bonus pay.

“The expectation from the public and Congress was that they weren’t getting bonuses, not that they’d be pushed off by several months,” said David Schmidt, a consultant at executive pay firm James F. Reda & Associates. “That clearly violates the spirit of AIG saying they’ll forgo their bonuses.”

AIG defended the action, saying it was necessary to encourage the guys to remain while buyers were found for the various units.

AIG Gives ‘Retention’ Pay After Scrapping Bonuses [Bloomberg] (Thanks to Myung!) (Photo: Marc oh)

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