American International Group, Inc., a major American insurance corporation that caused outrage by paying out huge bonuses after receiving emergency money from the U.S. government, may have paid more bonuses that previously reported, local media said.

Documents turned over late Friday show AIG paid US$218 million in bonuses last weekend, higher than the 165 million dollars that was previously disclosed, said the office of the attorney general of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal, who had issued a subpoena.

A man is seen behind the window at the office of the American International Group (AIG) in lower Manhattan area in New York's financial district, in this file photo taken on March 9, 2009. Documents turned over to the state of Connecticut attorney general show that American International Group Inc. paid out over $218 million in bonuses, more than the previously disclosed $165 million, published reports said on March 21. [Xinhua]

?In March 2009, AIG announced they were paying out US$165 million in executive bonuses. Total bonuses for the financial unit could reach US$450 million and bonuses for the entire company could reach US$1.2 billion. AIG has become a target of criticism in the media, from Congress, President Obama, and the public outcry following its allocation of the bonuses to its executives. AIG CEOs were grilled in both Congress chambers about the bonuses.

The U.S. Treasury Department is reportedly pushing ahead with new efforts to help banks. The U.S. government is expected to announce details next week of a program to subsidize private investors who buy devalued mortgage-related assets that are at the root of the financial crisis.

A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the lavish homes of AIG executives to protest the huge amount of bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company.

About 40 protesters -- outnumbered by reporters and photographers from as far away as Germany -- sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the bonuses to do more to help families, the Associated Press reported.

(Xinhua News Agency March 22, 2009)