financial meltdown:

Concering the financial meltdown:
Credit default swaps brought down the big financial companies. These credit default swaps were described as insurance. So were there actually insurance payouts? Who was paid?
Where did the billions of dollars go that the government poured into these companies. We hear about how AIG had to be propped up. But where did the money actually go? (Please don't tell me that it went to AIG.) I've watched the Frontline financial disaster documentaries multiple times and I still don't have the answer.