The U.S. Treasury Department has doled out nearly $2.5 billion in bailout money to banks that focus heavily on managing assets for the richest Americans.

A review of bank records by Condé Nast Portfolio shows that money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program went to the banks even though they had little or no exposure to subprime mortgages or other toxic assets. One of these firms, Chicago-based Northern Trust, which took $1.6 billion, was widely pummeled for pampering clients at a bank-sponsored golf tournament last month.

Some of the institutions are classified as private banks, which often means they require minimum deposits of at least $1 million—more than 20 times the average American's household income. Their customers rarely default on loans and still have relatively easy access to credit. Such banks don't handle accounts for people who are struggling to make ends meet, or trying to keep their small business afloat.

What they do, discreetly and well, is keep wealthy people's fortunes safe. "It's a further indication that there's no fully articulated plan [for rescuing the economy]," says Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel investigating the bailout. "At some point, we have a limited number of dollars. We can only mortgage our children's future, and our grandchildren's future to a point before we put our entire country at risk."

Howard Milstein, the New York real estate baron and chief executive for New York Private Bank & Trust in Manhattan, wrote last year in a New York Times op-ed essay that his bank owned none of the troubled debt plaguing the financial system.

Nevertheless, earlier this year NYPB&T pocketed $267 million in TARP funds. Its private banking subsidiary, which opened in 2005, bills itself as a "haven" for individuals with $50 million or more in assets.

Not only will the bank set you up with a mortgage or mutual fund, it will help tailor for you a personalized health insurance plan, or find an assistant to rearrange your schedule or book a vacation.

"Your lifestyle requires a level of planning and support that many people would have difficulty understanding," the bank's website reads.

Similarly, Boston Private Financial Holdings, which runs a stable of boutique wealth advisories and private banks and is owned partially by the private equity shop The Carlyle Group, took $154 million. Boston Private says that while it focuses on wealth management, "customers of any net worth are welcome," and that its lending was up 4 percent for the fourth quarter compared with last year.

Even the tiny, three-year-old Private Bank of California, which courts Hollywood business managers and other executives from its offices near Century City's sound stages, managed to carry off $5.4 million in TARP funding.

The bank doesn't have any walk-in, consumer business, and doesn't offer residential mortgages. It took the TARP money as an "insurance policy" against a continued recession, said Chairman Steven Broidy, adding that—in the spirit of the program—his bank will likely increase home equity and commercial loans and will continue to invest in the highest-rated mortgage-backed securities.

NYPB&T bank did not return calls for comment.

Warren and the other members of the Congressional panel have lambasted the Treasury for its lack of transparency, lack of accountability, and for doing little to directly assist struggling homeowners. The panel found that Treasury overpaid for the stock it acquired as part of TARP.