- Madoff’s ‘Prisoner’ Watch, Mets Jacket Boost $900,000 N.Y. Sale
- Madoff’s ill-gotten gains sold off
- Bank of temerity
- Hedge Funds Struggle
- UBS’s Debt Trading, Cause of Near Collapse, Is Key for Revival
- Deutsche Bank CEO Calls For Careful Global Bank Regulation
- Gold hits record on weak dollar, technical momentum
- JPMorgan Said to Be in Talks to Buy Remainder of Cazenove Stake
- Sands to Put Macau Focus On Foreigner
- GM Said to Repay Government $6.7 Billion Sooner Than Required
Madoff’s ‘Prisoner’ Watch, Mets Jacket Boost $900,000 N.Y. Sale – Bloomberg
Bernard L. Madoff’s Rolex “prisoner watch” and his New York Mets jacket were among 170 items sold last night in a Manhattan auction that raised more than $900,000 for victims of his $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
About 2,000 dealers and collectors placed bids online, and in the ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, for keepsakes, jewelry and clothing owned by Madoff and his wife, Ruth. Many of the lots blew past high estimates set by Gaston & Sheehan Auctioneers, the Pflugerville, Texas, company that handled the sale for the U.S. Marshals Service…..
Madoff’s ill-gotten gains sold off – NY Post
Ponzi King Bernie Madoff’s royal treasure trove started going to the highest bidder today – and some items pulled in more money than even the master scammer would have expected.
Madoff’s personalized Mets jacket, expected to go for $500 to $700, brought in $14,500.
A pair of Art Deco ladies diamond platinum Cartier earrings, which had been expected to fetch from $6,500 to $9,800 sold for a whopping $70,000. Another set of diamond earrings also went for $70,000, many times over the estimated price….
Bank of temerity – NY Post
Investigators are poring over fresh evidence they say suggests Bank of America strong-armed Uncle Sam into ponying up billions in taxpayer support, using as leverage the threat of nixing its merger with Merrill Lynch.
Government officials say the newly uncovered documents, which The Post reviewed, are further evidence BofA knew it did not have a basis for claiming a “material adverse change” (MAC) clause that would let it walk away from the merger.
“What tell regulators? What relief [should BofA ask for]? Ring-fence assets? Or support?” reads one handwritten note from a member of BofA’s legal team dated Dec. 16, 2008, a day before CEO Ken Lewis called the Treasury Department to claim it had grounds to cancel the deal.
Hedge Funds Struggle – Wall Street Journal
The hedge-fund industry may be on track to deliver its best annual returns in years, but many managers still aren’t in a position to collect performance fees.
Most hedge-fund fortunes were earned through the collection of performance fees, typically 20% of any profit. The fee structure gives managers an incentive to outperform and provides some protection for their investors. But in the third quarter, roughly two-thirds of funds globally still hadn’t recovered from the steep declines of 2008, estimates Chicago data tracker Hedge Fund Research Inc., or HFR. About a quarter of funds were more than 20% below their previous high point, or high-water mark, and thus couldn’t charge performance fees for this year’s gains….
UBS’s Debt Trading, Cause of Near Collapse, Is Key for Revival – Bloomberg
UBS AG, Switzerland’s largest bank, may have to rely on the same business that brought it near collapse as it seeks to rebuild profitability: the trading of debt securities.
Chief Executive Officer Oswald Gruebel, who speaks to investors tomorrow in Zurich, will probably list hiring in fixed-income as a key element in his turnaround plan at the unprofitable bank, said analysts including MF Global Securities Ltd.’s Simon Maughan. UBS declined to comment……
Deutsche Bank CEO Calls For Careful Global Bank Regulation – Wall Street Journal
Deutsche Bank AG (DB) Chief Executive Josef Ackermann Monday called for a careful approach to global bank regulation and said there are signs of improvement in most asset classes.
Ackermann reiterated that banks will need to hold higher and better-quality capital as regulators consider higher core capital ratios for banks.
He suggested the creation of a financial fund to help banks recapitalize themselves and wind down troubled assets. Banks that engage in more risky activities should be required to hold more capital, Ackermann added……
Gold Advances to Record as Investors Seek Dollar Alternative – Bloomberg
….“The dollar has shifted so fast from looking fairly strong to looking so weak,” boosting gold prices, Walter de Wet, a London-based Standard Bank Ltd. analyst, said by phone today. “Nobody wants to short gold.”
Immediate-delivery bullion rose as much as $14.51, or 1.3 percent, to $1,133.20 an ounce and traded at $1,127.20 by 11:24 a.m. in London. The metal added 2.2 percent last week. December gold futures gained 1 percent to $1,127.50 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division after earlier reaching $1,133.50……
JPMorgan Said to Be in Talks to Buy Remainder of Cazenove Stake – Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the U.S. bank that remained profitable during the financial crisis, is in talks to buy the half of Cazenove Group it doesn’t already own for about 1 billion pounds ($1.7 billion), said a person familiar with the matter, helping expand its business in Europe.
The price equates to about 530 pence a share, said the person, who declined to be identified because negotiations are still in progress. The proceeds will be split among Cazenove’s 1,500 shareholders and a deal is likely to be announced before the end of this month, the person said….
Sands to Put Macau Focus On Foreigner – Wall Street Journal
Las Vegas Sands Corp. said it hopes to generate 30% of its Macau revenues from non-Chinese customers after 2011, when it opens a new casino-and-resort complex in Macau’s Cotai area.
Currently, revenue from non-China visitors makes up about 8% of Las Vegas Sands’ business in Macau, according to the company’s Macau president, Steve Jacobs…..
GM Said to Repay Government $6.7 Billion Sooner Than Required – Bloomberg
General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, will repay $6.7 billion of the $49.9 billion in aid it received from the federal government starting next month, more than five years sooner than required, a person familiar with the company’s plans said.
GM plans to make a payment of $1 billion a quarter, with the first installment Dec. 31, said the person, who requested not to be identified because the transaction hasn’t been announced publicly. The Treasury Department is unlikely to recover all of the aid it provided, a congressional oversight panel said in a report Sept. 9…..
Tags: Autos, Bank of America, Bernie Madoff, Deutsche Bank, GM, Gold, Hedge funds, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Politics, TARP, UBS
