According to a report released by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, as many as nine US banks paid their top employees nearly $33 billion in bonuses during 2008, despite the fact that their mammoth losses had forced them to seek almost $175 billion federal funding under the Trouble Asset Relief Program (TARP).

These banks include Citigroup; Merrill Lynch; Goldman Sachs; Morgan Stanley; Bank of America; J P Morgan; Wells Fargo; Bank of New York Mellon Corp; and State Street Corp.

The detailed 22-page report said that the mentioned bonuses - which included over $1 million each to almost 5,000 employees - had come at a time when huge losses suffered by the banks resulted in the ongoing economic crisis.

While the top recipient of 2008 bonuses was Citigroup's Phibro LLC unit head, Andrew Hall, who received $98.9 million; Bank of America's Thomas Montag was the second-highest recipient with $39.4 million.

Elaborating the paradoxical scenario of bonus payments - whereby top employees characteristically make over 90 percent of their compensation in year-end bonuses - the report said: "When the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well. When the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well. Bonuses and overall compensation did not vary significantly as profits diminished."