$$$ Furry Fund [FINalternatives]

$$$ Elitist for Same [Craigslist]

$$$ The Khaki Letter [LoSC]

$$$ Charges of Insider Trading for a Wall Street Luminary [New York Times]

$$$ We apologize for the paucity of posts today. The DealBreaker servers decided to take a snow-day. In fact, we have no idea when this edition of write-offs will show up. We’ll be back on at full speed on Monday. [John and Bess]

$$$ Chuck G says Wachovia, Citi and a consortium of other banks are thisclose to arriving at a deal—equity infusions and lines of credit—to bailout out the bond insurers. [CNBC]

$$$ Citigroup says more write-downs could be on the way: “There is a risk of a U.S. and/or global downturn in 2008. A U.S-led economic downturn could negatively impact other markets and economies around the world and could restrict the Company’s growth opportunities internationally. Should economic conditions further deteriorate, the Company could see revenue reductions across its businesses and increased costs of credit. In addition, continuing deterioration of the U.S. or global real estate markets could adversely impact the Company’s revenues, including additional write-downs of subprime and other exposures, additional write-downs of leveraged loan commitments and cost of credit, including increased credit losses in mortgage-related and other activities. Further adverse rating actions by credit rating agencies in respect of structured credit products or other credit-related exposures, or of monoline insurers could result in revenue reductions in those or similar securities.” [SEC]

$$$ Morgan Stanley: Market Hero? [Deal Journal]

$$$ There’s an old saying on Wall Street: “When a man retires, his wife gets twice the husband and half the salary.” Maybe at some point that just gets old.

$$$ Natalie Bancroft [Portfolio]

$$$ The 1st Annual TimothySykes.com Crap Company Chart Pattern Awards [TS]

$$$ There goes another $15 billion. [The Economist]

$$$ The Sell Side: Joe Herrick, Gutterman Research [LoSC]

$$$ Gold [WallStrip]

$$$ How To: Make Big Profits Illegally (and Maybe Keep Them, Too) [NYT]

$$$ 36 Hours In The Life Of A Trading Addict [Tim Sykes]

$$$ Michiel de Boer [WallStrip]

$$$ Have a good one, Schwarzman [Daily Intel]

$$$ Looking to fill that $750,000 Hole in Your Budget? [FINalternatives]

$$$ WallStrip Loves You [WS]

$$$ Translating Corporate Speak: Wynn [LoSC]

$$$ Outstructuring Outsourcing [GP]

$$$ RSX [WallStrip]

$$$ Buffett not good enough for Ambac [Reuters]

$$$ SocGen’s rogue problem - was Kerviel, at 31, too old? [FT Alphaville]

$$$ Bebo [WallStrip]

$$$ Deals: Off the Record? An Intriguing Week
In our M&A Roundup for the week ended Feb. 10, activity is light, with only two billion-dollar deals. But interest in Yahoo and Alcoa’s purchase of Rio Tinto shares keep dealmakers buzzing. [CFO.com]

$$$ Seth Tobias Death Involved No Crime, Prosecutors Say [Bloomberg]

$$$ HOMG [WSJ]

$$$ HIV [WallStrip]

$$$ Liev Schreiber to the big house. [DealBook]

$$$ I’ve spent the last several years chasing a mirage, with little time or desire to have anything lasting. I’ve done the bar scene, but usually the women – while physically attractive – are flakey, superficial, or a few fries short of a Happy Meal. That’s not hot. [Craigslist]

$$$ Trader Monthly employee [WallStrip]

$$$ Translating Corporate Speak: Yahoo [LoSC]

$$$ Boiler room scams on rise [Reuters]

$$$ Real Estate [WallStrip]

$$$ The Remunerative Powers of OO [Long or Short Capital]

$$$ Honesty Is Not the Best Policy [Going Private]

$$$ Drugs [WallStrip]

$$$ Deals: Waiting for Yahoo
In our M&A Roundup for the week ended Feb. 3, the number of agreements is up, but overall activity remains quiet as the market awaits news of Microsoft’s hostile bid for the search engine. [CFO.com]

$$$ Sykic [Trader]

$$$ The rebuttal? [Timothy Sykes]

$$$ Initial Penetration [MuffMarkets]

$$$ HOMG, foreclosures in the Hamptons. [Crain’s]

$$$ Crab hands can barely afford $400 crab legs [DealBook]

$$$ Warm Bodies [GP]

$$$ Pets (as a child, I was denied one of these) [WallStrip]

$$$ Bernanke 2010 [NewsGroper]

$$$ Battleship [Portfolio]

$$$ Wanted: Your Toys [craigslist]

$$$ Reposted for weekend inspiration. [YouTube]

$$$ Jeffrey Epstein in Real Life [Daily Intel]

$$$ Adventures in Diligence II: The Paper Cut [Going Private]

$$$ Are Walruses Efficient? [LoSC]

$$$ MBIA wins through sheer force of boredom. [Portfolio]

$$$ New Fed Policy: ‘No Rogue Trader Left Behind’ [Jeff Matthews]

$$$ Jerome Kerviel (almost) did what brother Olivier could not. [Telegraph]

$$$ The Big R [WallStrip]

$$$ This is by far our favorite thing of the day: YouWalkAway.com.

$$$ Barry Ritholtz says farewell to Ben Stein.

$$$ Jerome Kerviel: French National hero?

$$$ Anyone care to venture a guess how early Rudy drops out of the race and endorses McCain?

$$$ Mentors and Strategies [MM]

$$$ Here’s the 74 billion question: Was the Fed’s decision to cut rates last week the indirect result of Kerviel’s unauthorized $74 billion in trading positions, which SocGen was furiously unwinding on MLK day? Bonus round: has the realization that it was one bank’s unwinding made a deep Fed cut less likely tomorrow?

$$$ The question is, why wasn’t Charlie Gasparino quoted in, or at least consulted for, this story? [thestreet.com]

$$$ SocGen: C’est Le Takeover Time? [Deal Journal]

$$$ Our CFO.com M&A roundup reveals that the merger-and-acquisition bust has hit full-force. Last week saw only 33 new transactions worth a total of $3.4 billion.

$$$ The Midtown Journal?[The Observer]

$$$ ______Sperm_Donor___$75-150___per_donation___ (Financial District) [craigslist]

$$$Jerome Kerviel is free on bail. He did it for the bonus. [Times]

$$$ Syms goes to the pink sheets. Blames Sarbox. [Business Wire]

$$$ Hoku [WallStrip]

—Bess Levin is on assignment. She will return tomorrow.

$$$ List of trading losses [Wikipedia]

$$$ Erin Burnett’s On-Air Swearing Incident: We Saw It! [Silicon Alley Insider]

$$$ Muff on Sykes [MuffMarkets]

$$$ Adventures in Diligence II: The Paper Cut [GP]

$$$ John McCain Is Not An Expert On Wall Street.

—Ron Paul contributed to this edition of write-offs.

$$$ “I always knew it was a bad idea to let kids run the global financial system.” [DealBook]

$$$ Jerome Kerviel is down to ONE FRIEND on Facebook, from eleven this morning. Let this be a warning to all of you contemplating breaking the law. [Facebook]

$$$ Crash [WallStrip]

Don’t Forget: tonight on MOJO, the people who brought Tim Sykes into all our lives—Wall Street Warriors, season 2 (9:00 PM), Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist (9:30 PM), Start Up Junkies (10:00 PM). Discussion groups tomorrow.