Merrill Lynch must have some nerve!

After putting many Americans out of work last year, the company’s 10 highest-paid employees took home $209 million in cash and stock. Amid mounting losses, Merrill Lynch, which merged with Bank of America in January, paid its 11 top executives more than $10 million, while 149 other employees made upwards of $3 million. The financial firm’s top investment banker, Andrea Orcel, was paid $33.8 million alone, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The eight-figure salaries, which were revealed Wednesday, prompted New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to subpoena the bank’s top earners to discuss their bonuses and when they were received.

In response, Bank of America filed a motion in the New York State Supreme Court to keep compensation data private.

Former Merrill Lynch boss John Thain testified about the firm’s billion-dollar bonuses earlier this year. Thain reportedly blew over $1 million redecorating his office before selling the firm to BoA. Last week, Cuomo accused him of trying to block an ongoing probe into executive bonuses and other Wall Street shenanigans.

The financial market collapse last year crippled the U.S. economy, causing plummeting stock values, widespread layoffs, and business and home foreclosures across the country. And these people want to keep their compensation secret? Mind-boggling…