July 28, 2010 - A report released on Friday by the U.S. Treasury Department has determined that 17 companies that received TARP funds distributed "ill advised" bonuses totaling some $1.6 billion.
According to the LA Times, "the report found that bonuses and other payments to highly paid executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and 13 other financial firms were "ill-advised," said Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master for executive compensation under the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program."
In a MAPLight.org analysis of campaign contributions, employees and organizations tied to these 17 companies gave over 19,400 individual contributions totaling more than $21 million to sitting members of Congress since the 2008 election cycle. These numbers represent a return on investment of over $75 for every $1 put in. The legislation establishing TARP was signed into law by President Bush in October 2008 during the 110th Congress.
Totals represent available contribution data given to candidate campaign committees of legislators serving in the 110th and 111th Congresses. Contributions were determined by analysis of data provided by the Centers for Responsive Politics (CRP). Determination of the contributions by companies or their employees were based on data provided by CRP.
| Firm | Number of Contributions | Amount of Contributions |
|---|---|---|
| Goldman Sachs | 2,794 | $3,815,987 |
| JPMorgan Chase | 3,021 | $3,360,240 |
| Citigroup | 2,915 | $3,122,092 |
| Morgan Stanley | 2,540 | $2,661,400 |
| Bank of America | 2,210 | $2,302,633 |
| Wells Fargo | 1,761 | $1,608,736 |
| American Express | 1,015 | $1,127,108 |
| Capital One | 617 | $753,222 |
| Bank of New York Mellon Corp. | 800 | $763,644 |
| American International Group | 626 | $519,711 |
| US Bancorp | 492 | $505,096 |
| SunTrust Banks | 219 | $194,853 |
| PNC Financial Services Group. | 226 | $201,731 |
| Regions Financial Corp. | 119 | $125,575 |
| M & T Bank Corp. | 45 | $51,995 |
| Boston Private Financial Holdings* | 43 | $21,300 |
| CIT Group | 36 | $23,000 |
| Total | 19,479 | $21,158,323 |
* Combines contributions from Anchor Capital Advisors, LLC and Anchor/Russell; Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough, LLC; Borel Private Bank & Trust Company; Boston Private Bank & Trust Company; Charter Private Bank; Coldstream; Dalton, Greiner,Hartman, Maher & Co., LLC; Davidson Trust Company; First Private Bank & Trust; KLS Professional Advisors Group, LLC
