***Madoff’s Stolen Statue Recovered (FINalternatives)
This is some bull shit. The bronze statue of two lifeguards which was fittingly stolen from Bernie’s Palm Beach back yard last week is back.
***Horseman’s firm loses billions in scam (Times Union)
Snicker yourselves to death: “A hedge fund investor who poured millions into Saratoga’s equine economy has abruptly stopped all new construction on his huge horse farm and wants to sell his thoroughbreds after losing some $7.5 billion in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
Jeffrey Tucker, the founding partner of Fairfield Greenwich Group, bought Stonebridge Farm in Schuylerville in 2004, and has since built New York’s first track with a synthetic racing surface and indoor arena on the 188-acre farm. Tucker, 62, owns and cares for about 50 thoroughbreds on the site, considered one of horse racing’s premier training facilities, and recently purchased a 230-acre satellite farm in Gansevoort.”
***Concert Industry Bucks the Recessionary Trend (WSJ)
All this means to me is that a certain someone will be able to get his private Jonas Brothers concerts on the cheap. And that’s something I have no problem with.

The concert industry has so far bucked the recession, according to year-end data from trade magazine Pollstar, but promoters are bracing for a bumpy 2009.
Box-office receipts from North American concerts through December were $4.2 billion, up 7.8% from 2007. But the total number of tickets sold for the 100 top-grossing shows fell 3%, to 35.6 million, the second consecutive year of declines. The growth in revenue was the result of rising ticket prices. The average ticket to one of the 100 top-grossing shows cost $66.90, up $4.83, or 8%, from 2007 and more than double the average price in 1998.
That could spell trouble in 2009.

***The screen name belonging to one Bernie Madoff recently came back online a few days ago. The buddy icon appears to be the Grand Tetons. We’ll be auctioning off this and other noteworthy persons’ SN’s in the New Year, so take some time to devise the perfect IM now.
***Obama And That Other Ponzi Scheme (TSG)
Meaning Norman Hsu, charged last year with operating a $60 million Madoff scheme. Also, Matt Dillon drove too fast in Vermont for the police’s liking, but got a mugshot that I legtimately say could and should be his new headshot out of the deal.
***Help Wanted: The Next Neel Kashkari (Deal Journal)
Who needs a job?
***No bonuses for Vikram and Win this year. [SEC]
***Cerberus: “Who would have believed that in a short period of time we would see the collapse of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman, AIG, WAMU and Ambac? Who would have believed that even Citigroup would require significant injections of capital by the government to stabilize its business as we watched its stock trade from a 52-week high of $31 to $7.02 as of December 19, 2008? No financial institution has escaped this downturn. Banks, insurance companies, mortgage companies, investment banks, and other financial companies have all had severe problems. It has been the most difficult for non-deposit financial institutions. Any financial business that needs significant credit lines, other than deposit institutions, is either collapsing or, in the best case, experiencing severe stress.” [PDF]
We hope you all have at least marginally Happy New Years! Yes, even you. Back full-time on Monday, with the possibility of a surprise appearance on Friday with photos of NYE at the Guccione pad, starring the Hill Hearing Harem, depending on how the night goes.

Madoff Investigation Shifts to Offshore Role (NYT)
If, at the beginning of the year, someone had predicted that at the year’s end we would be knee deep in shit from a madman creating a $50B Ponzi scheme I would have simply replied “I’ll buy the drinks for that show”; it’s clear now that by the time this settles I would have been broke and suffering from liver/kidney failure.
At the Times we’ve got Madoff being investigated for his possible offshore activity – adding the “illegal” seems unnecessary as anything he was doing was actually in the commission of the biggest Ponzi ever pulled. They’re looking into tax avoidance and fraud – rumor has it UBS was consulted on the former back in the day but turned the gig down as they only deal with “large scale” operations.
Fed To Purchase $500B In Mortgages, Continued… (Reuters)
The Fed has announced that it plans on following through with the MBS purchase plan. If you weren’t paying attention at some point:
“The Fed selected investment managers BlackRock Inc (BLK.N), Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GS.N), PIMCO, and Wellington Management Co to implement the program.”
Who didn’t see Goldman popping up on the list? Really? I’m a massive fan of nepotism on a personal level, but in the wake of the SEC/Madoff mindfuck it seems that the prudent government move would have been to separate itself from the purchase of assets that could very well (further) influence what players are left on the Banking Field in the near future.
Credit Suisse To Sell Part Of Global Investors Business Line (Bloomberg)
The marginally less tax-evade-y Swiss bank in townhas announced it’s going to sell off part of it’s Global Investors line, which “includes fixed-income, equity and money market funds” to Aberdeen Asset Management for $361MM in stock.
GMAC Uses Fed Money To Create Liquidity (WSJ)
They’re going to be offering loans of the 0% variety on five vehicles, and loans ranging from .9% to 5.9% en masse it appears. I don’t know that any of this will help either the company or the American public/infrastructure at large, but it was a nice thought.
Paulson, Run Amuck (Reuters)
While (the real) Paulson (to us) is looking to buy distressed debt with his $36B baby Paulson & Co, he’s also slinging mud at the rest of the industry for gating redemptions and clawing for survival. Because opening up the Funds for full redemption won’t be anything like a bank run, or cause the sudden sell-off of Billions of dollars of equities. No, Paulson, people are completely rational right now.
UBS Sells Off Bank Of China Stake (Reuters)
“Straitened (sic) Swiss bank UBS AG said on Wednesday it had sold its stake in Bank of China at a discount to institutional investors and would book a gain of a “few hundred million dollars” in the fourth quarter.”
Here’s the story in a nutshell: UBS needs money so they’re selling off whatever they can. Banks (even ones in China) pose an unnecessary risk, so they’re the first to go.

Read more »

Since one of your fellow commenters has brought to light the plight of the less gifted contingent of the Dealbreaker community, we figured we’d remind them once again, in case it was missed previously, and previous to that:

Programming Note: We’re on an abbreviated vacation-esque schedule ’til the first Monday of ’09 (opening/closing wraps and very limited updates whenever the urge to reach out and touch you moves us). We still want to hear from you, though, so if Glenview closes up shop, or Bernie Madoff slips in the shower and you’ve got pics, do not hesitate to let us know.

Now, until we get back which, as indicated above, could be at any time, talk amongst yourselves. Here, conversation starter: New Year’s and your plans. For those of you in need of inspiration, after the jump, a preview of how our favorite Stamfordian is planning on kicking off the night:

Read more »

One of our New Year’s Resolutions is to stop making fun of Steve Cohen. Though previous gentle ribbings have obviously been public demonstrations of love as expressed by a deeply cynical individual scared to tell the big guy how she really feels, apparently they haven’t penetrated certain fleece wearers up at 72 Cummings Point Road. Since it pains us to know we’re not getting through, and because the keys to the Zamboni machine are all we want in life, a new angle of attack is necessary. A kiss and make-up sheet cake and handwritten note seem like good jumping off points, but we’ll iron out the details later (speak up if you can facilitate this goal). Now that you know where we’re coming from, it should be understood that the presentation of the following data is meant to be not a criticism but a congratulations for a (relatively) kick-ass job well done.

Read more »

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland on Tuesday approved the transfer of $28.1 million to cover expenses tied to the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s investment firm.
[...]
Irving Picard, the trustee presiding over the liquidation of Madoff’s investment firm, said he needed the $28.1 million to cover employee salaries and other costs, according to court documents. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. previously agreed to transfer the funds, but the bankruptcy judge first had to approve the transfer.
BNY Mellon already transferred about $883,000 to cover costs tied to the liquidation.
Picard will oversee the liquidation as the Securities Investor Protection Corp. attempts to help investors recoup their money. SIPC was created by Congress in 1970 to protect investors when a brokerage firm fails and cash and securities are missing from accounts. Funds can be used to satisfy the remaining claims of each customer up to a maximum of $500,000. The figure includes a maximum of up to $100,000 on claims for cash.

Madoff liquidation trustee receives $28M for costs [AP via Forbes]
Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon, who we know by virtue of the KB Law had to have been affected by Madoff, is getting screwed.

BlackRock Adjusts Voting Rights (FT)
BlackRock has exercised its prerogative to adjust voting rights, downsizing Merrill’s influence from 49.5% to 4.9%, which is in effect BlackRock saying “Please go away, you’re not welcome here any longer.” In its void the firm has moved PNC Financial Services, which has 33% ownership in the company, to 47% voting rights.
Madoff scheme touches schools (Greenwich Time)
How will future Noel generations get into these “public schools” now? Damn you, Madoff. Damn you to hell.

Two Greenwich private schools and a Stamford-based Hebrew school are among the hundreds of nonprofit organizations across the country that were partly funded by foundations invested in Bernard Madoff’s allegedly fraudulent fund.
The three schools last year received nearly a quarter of a million dollars from The Valerie and Jeffrey S. Wilpon Foundation, a charity co-founded by Greenwich resident Jeffrey Wilpon, chief operating officer of the New York Mets.
The foundation is run as a charitable arm of Sterling Equities Inc., a Great Neck, N.Y.-based investment firm where Wilpon serves as executive vice president. That firm, which was founded by Wilpon’s father, Fred Wilpon, was allegedly swindled by Madoff, perhaps out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
In fiscal year 2007, the foundation donated more than $227,000 to Greenwich Country Day School, a private school where Wilpon serves on the board, according to a recent tally compiled based on foundation tax returns.
Wilpon’s foundation also gave $15,000 to the Brunswick School.

US Shores GMAC With $6B (Reuters)
The deal is $5B in senior preferred, at 8% plus $1B to GM to help GMAC through transition in to a bank holding company.
Ford’s Answer To The Auto Crisis (AP)
Now your American Made Car can self park: because you just can’t be bothered.
The Government Should Stick To Governing (Bloomberg)
The funniest part of accepting federal money has to be watching the congressional leaders that think they’re in charge of it tell you how you should spend it; their years in banking have affording them a certain experience in dealing with financial crisis most bank presidents wouldn’t have.
Daily Borrowing From Emergency Funds Down (AP)
The AP has numbers that suggest daily emergency borrowing is down on average of $1.9B a day to $86.3B.
Airlines Saving Cash (WSJ)
As goes fuel so goes the airlines – and now that the price of oil has dropped, they’re taking every opportunity to hedge and raise capital.
IMF Calling For More Global Action (FT)
“Across-the-board tax cuts or bail-outs of troubled industries such as the automotive sector are likely to waste government money while doing little to stimulate the global economy, the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday.”
The IMF is making a valid point; anymore the economy is the US isn’t based solely (or even by majority) on the happenings inside the US, but they’re missing something very, very important: US voters don’t understand that.
All they see is that “my tax dollars” are going out the window – but in reality, it wasn’t or isn’t their tax money. It’s the federal government’s tax money. Moreover, you never saw or had access to it, you couldn’t ever touch it: you have no claim to those funds.
Nevertheless, it isn’t going to happen: we’re not sending money oversees when Americans are losing jobs.

Read more »

$$$ “Desperate to avoid steering his 25,000-person company into bankruptcy proceedings, Mr. Fuld dialed the Charlotte, N.C., home of Bank of America Chairman Kenneth D. Lewis. His calls so far that weekend had gone unreturned. This time, Mr. Lewis’s wife, Donna, again picked up, and told the boss of Lehman Brothers: If Mr. Lewis wanted to call back, he would call back.
Mr. Fuld paused, then apologized for bothering her. “I am so sorry,” he said. [WSJ]
$$$ “Leave the Noel sisters alone!” [Guest of a Guest]
$$$ Peter Kraus‘s new pad [TRD]
$$$

December 19, 2008
Mr. Lewis A. Sanders
4 East 66th Street Apt. 10
New York, NY 10065
Dear Lew:
This letter sets forth the terms of your Retirement Agreement with AllianceBernstein
Corporation (the “Company”) and AllianceBernstein L.P. (the “Partnership”).

*During these vacation-esque times, we ring the closing bell whenever we see fit.

Read more »

And Bernie Madoff gets off yet again! Four words: untreated case of syphilis. Didn’t think Bernie Madoff’s spotted sexual history was going to play a part in his defense of the greatest Ponzi scheme of all time? Think again! As you all know, some personally, when syphilis enters the symptomatic tertiary stage, “it becomes a very serious medical condition” that can cause a person to go crazy and do crazy, illegal shit, against his own will. From the Daily News:

Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear.
“Bernie’s family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line, he had a mental break,” says a Madoff acquaintance. “They may even say he has a multiple personality disorder.”

Read more »