WALL STREET'S most profitable bank Goldman Sachs paid five senior executives more than $300m (£149m) in bonuses last year as the securities firm successfully avoided the huge losses suffered by its rivals during the credit crisis.

Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer of Goldmans, received a bonus of $67.9m on top of his annual salary of $600,000, while fellow executives Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried each received $66.9m, dwarfing the payouts to their peers at other big US banks where performance was well below that of Goldman Sachs.

David Viniar, chief financial officer, was paid a bonus of $56.9m and Edward Forst, chief administrative officer, was awarded a bonus of $43.4m.

It is the second consecutive year that Blankfein's bonus has set a new record for Wall Street chiefs and it comes as two former bank bosses, that paid the price for big losses on mortgage-related bets, defended their remuneration to a congressional hearing in Washington investigating executive pay at companies embroiled in the mortgage crisis.

Charles 'Chuck' Prince, ex boss of Citigroup, and Stan O'neal, former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, were both ousted from their positions by shareholders after posting massive losses stemming from investments in sub-prime mortgage-backed securities.

Prince, who retained around $30m in stock and options, argued that Citigroup "worked hard to align management interests with the interests of shareholders", while O'Neal, who left Merrill with a $161.5m package, said "the compensation of senior management at Merrill was determined through a rigorous and independent process".

In a statement, Goldman Sachs defended its executive pay scheme saying it was based on the company's record earnings.

"Individual performance in fiscal [year] 2007 was exceptional and contributed significantly to our financial results," Goldman said.

While many Wall Street giants have had to seek substantial infusions of cash from sovereign wealth funds to shore up their balance sheets after suffering huge losses from continued investment in the US sub-prime mortgage market, Goldman posted a net profit of $11.6m as its top managers bucked the trend and bet the housing market would crash.

Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, expressed outrage at the levels of corporate pay in the US. In a scathing attack on the country's top bosses, the California Democrat said: "There seem to be two different economic realities operating in our country. Most Americans live in a world where economic security is precarious but our nation's top executives seem to live by a separate set of rules."

Some Wall Street bosses have been less fortunate than Blankfein and had to forgo their bonuses for 2007 following the fallout from the sub-prime crisis. Merrill Lynch has refused to reward senior executives after the bank reported its first annual loss in almost 20 years.

John Mack, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, missed out after the bank posted writedowns of $10.6bn, while James Cayne, who relinquished the chief executive post at Bear Stearns to become chairman, also surrendered a bonus following significant writedowns.

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