It was big news when Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) announced CEO Lloyd Blankfein (Lloyd Blankfein news) and other top executives' bonuses for a stellar 2009--a seemingly paltry, politically correct, all-stock bonus of $8.9 million each (it really turned out to be $9.8 million).

The move was no doubt a sop to the firm's many critics who were poised to pounce if the bonuses were deemed to be way too high for a bank that took TARP funds. For its 2009 compensation move, the bank earned some grudging praise.

But now comes news that the top execs earned more from another source: Distributions from internal funds. According to proxy statements reported by Reuters, Blankfein received $18.7 million in distributions from these investment funds.

Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn received $15.1 million, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar $11.5 million, and former President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Winkelried $9.8 million. Total distributions amounted to $55.1 million, more than double the $24.2 million total in 2008.  Back then, Blankfein took $9.6 million, Cohn took $6.3 million to Cohn, Viniar took $5.1 million, and WInkelried took $3.2 million. These executives did not receive bonuses in 2008. 

For more:
- here's the Reuters article
- here's the Bloomberg article

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