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With the financial system on the verge of collapse in late 2008, a group of troubled banks doled out more than $2 billion in bonuses and other payments to their highest earners. Now, the federal authority on banker pay says that nearly 80 percent of that sum was unmerited.

In a report to be released on Friday, Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master for executive compensation, is expected to name 17 financial companies that made questionable payouts totaling $1.58 billion immediately after accepting billions of dollars of taxpayer aid, according to two government officials with knowledge of his findings who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the report.

The group includes Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs [GS 147.66 1.11 (+0.76%) ], JPMorgan Chase [JPM 39.76 0.41 (+1.04%) ] and the American International Group [AIG 36.8693 0.3793 (+1.04%) ] as well as small lenders like Boston Private Financial Holdings [BPFH 7.00 0.15 (+2.19%) ]. Mr. Feinberg’s report points to companies that he says paid eye-popping amounts or used haphazard criteria for awarding bonuses, the people with knowledge of his findings said, and he has singled out Citigroup [C 4.03 -0.06 (-1.47%) ] as the biggest offender.

Millions of Americans suffered because of the financial games the banks played. We bailed them out. And, now, they're laughing all the way to the bank. These banksters need to be held accountable. We must continue to push for reform.

What do companies that post record losses and teeter on the brink of bankruptcy only to be bailed out by the American taxpayer do? That's right - they dole out $100 million in bonuses to the fat cat executives that scuttled a multi-billion dollar fortune.

Bonus payments totaling $100 million to AIG employees from the same unit that prompted a massive taxpayer bailout are "outrageous" but allowed under the law, the Obama administration's pay czar said Wednesday.

Kenneth Feinberg said the retention bonuses were contractual obligations agreed upon years ago, before American International Group Inc. received a $180 billion federal rescue at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008.

"These are the old grandfathered payments," Feinberg said. "I do not for a minute ignore the outrage out there, which I share. But the fact of the matter is we've got to abide by the law."

It's time to pass a new set of laws to take on the excesses of Wall Street. Our small businesses and our middle class is at stake.

Heather Booth from Americans for Financial Reform gives us the State of the Financial Reform Movement and lists ways you can get involved.

SEIU makes it easy for you to contact the FCIC and ask why, when families are being forced into the street by foreclosures, are big banks giving employees the same old big bonuses?

Taxpayers in Iowa delivered a clear message to the big banks during a showdown at the statehouse: give up your bonuses to help meet our budget budget crisis. Isn't Iowa too big to fail?

Americans United for Change is petitioning Congress to support President Obama's financial reform package and put an end to Bush-style economic policies that endanger our pensions, retirement funds, and college savings.