AIG's "retention bonuses" went to hundreds of employees in the insurer's troubled financial products unit, including a kitchen assistant who received $7,700 in March, a US government report will reveal today.

News that support staff shared $168m-plus (£105m-plus) worth of retention awards could undermine AIG's insistence the bonuses were needed to persuade key employees to stay on and unwind the derivatives trades that almost brought down the insurer last year.