SAC’s Trading Mimics Insider Dealings Identified by Prosecutors (Bloomberg)
SAC Capital traded at least 11 stocks near the time of insider trading in the same shares that prosecutors have identified at other hedge funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Former SAC portfolio managers Noah Freeman and Donald Longueuil obtained material, nonpublic information on two of the 11, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Marvell Technology Group, in a conspiracy beginning before they joined the hedge fund in 2008, according to a lawsuit filed this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission…SAC securities filings from 2006 through 2009 show position changes in at least nine other stocks during periods when prosecutors have said Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam and others were trading based on insider tips. The companies are Akamai Technologies Inc., Atheros Communications Inc., ATI Technologies Inc., Clearwire Corp., EBay Inc., Google Inc., the former Hilton Hotels Corp., Intel Corp. and Polycom Inc. SAC’s positions in the 11 stocks moved up or down consistent with buying and selling that federal prosecutors have described in criminal filings related to other insider trading cases.

Facebook mulls $1 billion employee share sale (Reuters)
Facebook may let its employees sell up to $1 billion of their shares to institutional investors at a price that values the company at about $60 billion.

Corzine Calls Most General Obligations ‘Safe’ Amid Default Talk (Bloomberg)
“Most general obligation bonds are safe,” he said on Bloomberg TV. People should “stop talking about bankruptcy,” said Corzine.

Wells Fargo Official’s Exit Puzzles (WSJ)
The circumstances surrounding Chief Financial Officer Atkins’s Tuesday departure were as puzzling to employees and regulators as they were for analysts and investors. In a news release about Mr. Atkins’s exit, the company said only that it had nothing to do with the company’s “financial condition or financial reporting.” On Tuesday afternoon, some of the bank’s senior executives seemed unaware that Mr. Atkins was preparing to leave, according to people familiar with the matter. Industry regulators and some of the bank’s top advisers also were taken by surprise, these people said.

Buffett Tells FCIC It’s Powerless to Stop `Too Big to Fail (Bloomberg)
“You will always have institutions that are too big to fail, and sometimes they will fail,” Buffett, 80, told the FCIC in a May 26 interview, according to a recording released by the panel yesterday. “We still have them now. We’ll have them after your commission report.”

Julian Assange Has At Least 4 Love Children (Gawker)
Just so you know.

Investors Warm To Big Deals (WSJ)
In 2011, there have been 12 deals valued above $5 billion, eight of them in the U.S., according to Dealogic. There were only two such deals in the U.S. at the same time last year.

Trial delayed in insider trading case against Galleon Group founder (NYP)
A federal court judge in Manhattan on Thursday postponed the start date for the securities fraud trial of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam until March 8.

Mayor Apologizes For “Inebriated” Remark (NY1)
The mayor was speaking Wednesday night at the American Irish Historical Society to help launch a book celebrating the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade. Bloomberg made a reference to the fact that he is a neighbor to the society’s Upper East Side building. “I live in the neighborhood, right around the corner,” said the mayor. “Normally when I walk by this building there are a bunch of people who are totally inebriated, hanging out the window waving. I know that is a stereotype of the Irish, but nevertheless we Jews from around the corner think this.” While the mayor made an effort to explain away his remarks during an event on Thursday, he issued a written apology later in the day. Continue reading »