New York - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the state's elected chief prosecutor, said late Monday that the recipients of nine of the 10 largest contested bonuses paid by American International Group Inc have agreed to return the money.

An uproar occurred after the revelation earlier this month that the struggling insurer, which has received some 180 billion dollars in federal government bail-out money to stay afloat, had since made contractual retention payments of 165 million dollars to employees.

Cuomo said that numerous of the employees receiving million-dollar bonuses had already agreed to return about 50 million dollars. In all, about 80 million dollars could eventually be paid back, he said. (dpa)