James Dimon, listed in our Wealthiest in the USA section can lay claim to the biggest bonus for a Wall Street chief for 2009 — so far.

The chief executive of JPMorgan Chase received a bonus of roughly $17 million, the bank disclosed in a regulatory filing on Friday. His bonus package contains almost $8 million in restricted stock, which begins vesting in 2012, and 563,562 options carrying a $43.20 strike price. (The restricted stock was granted on Wednesday, when JPMorgan’s stock closed at $40.29.)

Like last year, he won’t receive a cash bonus, a JPMorgan spokesman told Bloomberg News.

According to The New York Times, Mr. Dimon’s bonus was expected to fall between $15 million and $20 million.

Among his peers on Wall Street, Mr. Dimon is on the upper end of the bonus spectrum. James P. Gorman, the new chief executive of Morgan Stanley, received a bonus of more than $11 million, also in stock.

But the number everyone wants to see is how much Goldman Sach’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein will get. Mr. Blankfein’s bonus check has consistently outpaced those of his rivals, perhaps never more so than with the $68 million payout he received in 2007.

While some news reports have speculated that he could pull in more than $100 million this year — a guess that earned a tart response from a Goldman spokesman — it’s practically a given on Wall Street that Mr. Blankfein will be paid handsomely again.

Source: New York Times, Deal Book