$$$ US Marshals Seize Madoff Penthouse Property [CBS]

$$$ Sir Stanford's request to unfreeze funds for legal fees denied [FTAlphaville]

$$$ Comment(s) of the Day:

Posted by guest, Jul 02, 2009 11:37AM

The high collar says "I'm a sophisticated lady," but the low cut screams "put it between the bags."

And the response:

Posted by guest, Jul 02, 2009 11:39AM

@15 you think theyre big enough to TF? Looks like she might need to use the hand bridge.

$$$ Job of the Week: A hedge fund is looking for a "brilliant junior programmer." You. [DB Career Center]

$$$ SlimJim Factory Explosion Causes Shortages Nationwide [NYP]

$$$ "Around October, when the economy went into free fall, a bunch of out-of-work finance guys in their 20s descended on Buenos Aires, where you can have the penthouse, the steak dinners and the bottle service at ridiculous nightclubs and still save money renting out your apartment in New York or London.

Lifestyle arbitrage, baby! The word got out, and the party built on itself, making the fantasy it offered all the more intoxicating: Come spend a month--or four--in Buenos Aires, where you really are a master of the universe, where nights are sleepless and potential business deals are all scams and the clubs teem with unemployed expat bankers looking for their identities in piles of cocaine and the bloodshot eyes of hookers and thieves." [Playboy]

$$$ That's it for us today. We're off tomorrow, have a great weekend, Happy Fourth and if you happen to find yourself setting off illegal fireworks with Cliff Asness, we want to know!

Supposedly Citi 2nd year second tier S&T analysts are "pulling" 60k bonuses. For those keeping track at home and believing these numbers, this would be in line with the $42k goody-bags being awarded to the Big C's second tier first year rainmakers.

Faced with the possibility of unloading all or part of its credit card business, Vik and the boys decided they were not going to accept any low-ball offers from the likes of Jeff Immelt. While contemplating either an outright sale of the unit to GE or joining their credit card operations in a joint venture, Citi wanted a premium for its branded and private label cards. As delinquency rates head towards multi-decade highs, this seems like perfect timing for Citi to rely on its ability to raise rates enough to account for its rigorous underwriting standards. Or maybe they just know the recession is over and there is nothing to worry about.

TAKING NO CREDIT [NYP]

As previously mentioned, at least one Citi employee has caught the pig sniffles. Apparently the Germans may have also gotten in on the fun.

One entire section of the trading floor has been converted into a "bubble boy" type facility. No word on moops or which specific desk went on a Mexican bender.

Update:

Not sure who your sources are for you posts on the swine flu, but there is no "bubble" on our trading floor. Our floors look the same, and are operating the same, as they normally do.

Ted Meyer

Director, Head of Communications - Americas

Deutsche Bank

[click to enlarge]

Noted legal scholar Alec Baldwin has popped in to the Huffington Post to put it out there that he thinks 150 years is bull. Bernie should be given a reduced sentence in exchange for answering every question investigators ask regarding where the money is, naming names and telling them what his recommendations are "for how this might be detected and/or prevented in the future." Of course, Baldy's not necessarily wrong, but we'd still like to hear what Stephen's thoughts are on the matter before taking action one way or another.

It's a now bit clearer why Congress was so pissed at corporate executives at bailed out institutions who used private jets to travel to their respective roasts. It wasn't because it was a misuse of taxpayer funds; it's because it was such a JV effort. During last year's financial meltdown, hundreds of lawmakers raided taxpayer coffers to the tune of $13 million for overseas travel. Among the critical issues that needed to be addressed in the midst of the crisis were:

-Senator Daniel Inouye's 4-day trip to the Paris airshow last June. He and 6 other senators hitched a ride on the Air Force's version of a Boeing 737- which runs about $5700/hour to operate.

-Rep. Brian Baird's 4-day trip last summer to the Galapagos Islands with his wife, four other lawmakers and their families. As everybody recalls, global warming was the real hot topic after Bear collapsed.

-And then there was Nancy Pelosi this year. Before spending 1 day in Afghanistan visiting US troops, the Pelosi entourage spent 8 days preparing for the journey to Kabul by touring Italy racking up $58k on hotels and meals alone.

Vik and Kenny take notice- the next time you have to appear in front of the taxpayer spending all-star team, at least do something like head to Washington via a 2-week stint in St. Barths under the guise of getting a feel for the Caribbean banking environment.

Congress's Travel Tab Swells [WSJ]

Part II

I'm Dennis Kneale, it is 8 o'clock on a Wednesday of the July 4th holiday weekend and the great recession is still over

In the number two position, rising w a bullet 'dennis kneale idiot' 14,000 entries and counting

Vikula was hoping to cut out early and beat the traffic anyway so, good, this works out nicely.*

To: Employees on the 4th floor of 390 Greenwich St.

From: Citi Health Services

Sent: Wed Jul 01 13:18:27 2009

Subject: Probable H1N1 Case at 390 Greenwich St.

We have learned that an employee at our location has been diagnosed with a probable case of H1N1 Flu. The employee was in the office today, and at that time was showing some symptoms of H1N1 Flu. Please note that, due to medical privacy concerns, we cannot provide additional information as to the identity of the employee who has become ill. We are asking that employees on the floor take special care to ensure you are:

* Taking appropriate protective measures to prevent becoming ill and/or
spreading illness to others.

* Staying home from work if you begin demonstrating flu-like symptoms.

*Yes, we are fully aware that Pandito doesn't work out of Greenwich Street but obviously he's going to take this warning and run with it. He's got like 1 personal day left this year.

Big Pay Packages Return To Wall Street (WSJ)
Viva La 2007! "Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is on track to pay out as much as $20 billion this year, or about $700,000 per employee. That would be nearly double the firm's $363,000 average last year, and slightly higher than the $661,000 for the average Goldman employee in fiscal 2007, according to analyst estimates reviewed by The Wall Street Journal."

Merrill exec sounds bullish on future of BofA merger (Charlotte Observer)
Dan Sontag looks on the bright side re: Bank of Amerillwide. The future couldn't be possibly worse than the last several months, which were not unlike having hot coffee thrown on one's face during a parking lot brawl, an experience so traumatizing that no one wants to talk about it anymore. "People are really starting to move forward here," Sontag said in an interview with the Observer this week. "I see my group not wanting to talk about the rearview mirror as much."

Treasury To Name 9 Toxic Managers (WSJ)
The fate of the economy rests in your Power Point skills: "Potential managers made presentations to the government that were designed to measure whether they could handle the job. Firms considered include BlackRock Inc., Allianz SE's Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco; TCW Group; and Wellington Management, although it isn't clear who made the final cut."

Singh Hangs Up Stanford Logo (NYP)
Apparently he's not the man we thought he was. Two confidential things to Vijay: 1) you were paid to wear that thing, so god damn, you should have to wear it and 2) even after the 150 year sentence, the canasta player sponsored by Madoff Securities continues to sport his MadSec. Personally, we're typing this from a Bills Jersey which we'll continue to wear until the Big Guy is free. That's called loyalty, something you know nothing about.

Risk Cuts at Morgan May Lead to a Loss (NYT)
Sounds like it's time to give this guy a second shot.

Staffer At SEC Had Warned On Madoff (Washington Post)
"Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, sent e-mails to a supervisor, saying information provided by Madoff during her review didn't add up and suggesting a set of questions to ask his firm, documents show. But with the agency under pressure to look for wrongdoing in the mutual fund industry, she wasn't able to continue pursuing Madoff, according to documents and two people familiar with the investigation, and her team soon concluded its work on the probe. Walker-Lightfoot's supervisors on the case were Mark Donohue, then a branch chief in her department, and his boss, Eric Swanson, an assistant director of the department and Bernie's nephew-in-law."

"Bon" or "Non" Appétit? (PIMCO)
Bill Gross's buzz kill of the morning: "Greed will come again. But for now, the trend is the other way and it promises to persist for a generation at a minimum."

$$$ Trustee's Total of Madoff Losses Nears $3 Billion [NYT]

$$$ CNBC Runs Out Of Sweaters [Clusterstock]

$$$ Attorney says Stanford exec makes plea deal [AP]

$$$ John Henry has a bobble head; which other fund managers do you think are deserving? [SBB]

$$$ Recession Hard On Porn Stars [Big Picture]