NEW YORK (Reuters) - The crumbling empire of American International Group Inc is helping to pave Wall Street with gold.

Auctions of the bailed-out insurer's assets have generated more than half a billion dollars in fees since its near-collapse in September 2008, with every major Wall Street bank getting a piece of the action, estimates from Freeman Consulting show. The largest sale assignments came to fruition this quarter, when, in a space of just a week, AIG struck deals to sell two major foreign life insurance businesses, one each to Prudential Plc and MetLife Inc, for some $51 billion.

Those two sales have also played a significant role in shaping the first quarter rankings of deal advisers, helping some investment banks make quantum leaps in the coveted league tables. Blackstone Group LP, which has advised AIG throughout the crisis, jumped to No. 9 in the worldwide rankings from No. 78 over the same period last year. Bermuda-domiciled Lazard Ltd., which advised Prudential, jumped to No. 5 from No. 11.

AIG, which has been selling assets to repay the US government after a $182.3 billion taxpayer funded rescue, has been involved in as many as 90 transactions with disclosed value of $67.7 billion, the data shows. Together, these deals will generate an estimated $567.2 million in advisory fees, according to Freeman.