Feelin' Like a Sucker?

Secret Bonuses totaled 3.6 Billion Dollars!

Merrill Lynch "secretly" doled out huge bonuses before reporting a huge quarterly loss and getting absorbed by Bank of America, according to New York state's attorney general.

"Merrill Lynch's decision to secretly and prematurely award approximately $3.6 billion in bonuses, and Bank of America's apparent complicity in it, raise serious and disturbing questions," Andrew Cuomo wrote in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services.

Cuomo said Merrill gave bonuses of at least $1 million each to 696 employees, with a combined $121 million going to the top four recipients. The next four recipients were awarded a total of $62 million, and the next six received $66 million, he said. In all, the bonuses for 2008 totaled $3.6 billion.

Secret Bonuses/Not- Retention Awards

James Gorman, Co-President of Morgan Stanley, gave his employees a 'Retention Award.’ But don’t call them a ‘Bonus!’

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, which will combine their brokerage firms into the world's largest, have received a combined $60 billion in government bailout funds.

The soon-to-be-merged financial giants -- Morgan Stanley and Citigroup's Smith Barney -- announced the payments during an internal conference call last week, but warned advisers against describing them in terms that would cause PR headaches.

"There will be a retention award. Please do not call it a bonus," said James Gorman, co-president of Morgan Stanley. "It is not a bonus. It is an award. And it recognizes the importance of keeping our team in place as we go through this integration."

The payments, Gorman said, will be calculated based on performance numbers from 2008 instead of 2009, when the merger is expected to be completed. That decision virtually guarantees an increase in the size of the awards.

But wait, there’s more! Bailed-Out CEO's Keep Millions in Salaries

In a House Financial Services Committee hearing, CEOs disclosed that several of the them are still being generously compensated. They all indicated that they planned on retaining the following salaries in 2009.

Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf: $850,000

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit: $1

Morgan Stanely CEO John Mack: $800,000

State Street Corp. CEO Ronald Logue: $1 million

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis: $1.5 million

Bank of New York CEO Robert Kelly: $1 miillion

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon: $1 million

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankenfein: $600,000

Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit said that he would keep a $1 per year salary until his bank became profitable again. Wells Fargo’s Stumpf had some trouble remembering his salary. “My compensation in 2008, I’m embarrassed, I think it was 850 — I can’t remember the exact number. Let’s say $850,000,” he said.

Of course these salaries don't reflect any Bonuses, Retention Awards...whatever!

Do you feel like a Sucker yet?

Also check out: Shameful Corporate Greed.