Executives at Vice Media were paid massive bonuses in the weeks before the company went bankrupt in May , reportedly leaving it unable to pay laid-off staff and freelancers for months.

New court filings confirm earlier reports from Semafor that Vice senior executives received performance-related retention bonuses, totaling over $1,000,000, on April 28, one day after the company announced a painful round of layoffs .

While Vices head of news, Subrata De, received a $201,000 bonus, her department was gutted by the cancellation of its Emmy-winning flagship show Vice News Tonight. Several other execs, who already commanded salaries in the $600,000 to $800,000 range, received six-figure bonuses while the company slashed over 100 jobs from its 1,500-person workforce.