- AIG’s Rescue Bedevils U.S.
- Start Date Is Critical in Ponzi Plan
- Madoff liquidator seeks fees of $22.1m
- Fed Said to Ask Stress-Tested Banks to Submit Plans on TARP
- Billions in Lehman accounts unfrozen
- Black’s Apollo Revives Plan for New York Stock Exchange Listing
- U.K. Bankers Chafe Under the Microscope
- Nomura Fined $2.9 Million for Mis-marking Derivatives
- Murdoch courts trouble if he blocks Google on news
- A Google News Defection May Dent The ‘Franchise’
- Icahn outbids Penn for Fontainebleau Las Vegas
- That GM Corvette deal was too good to be true
AIG’s Rescue Bedevils U.S. – Wall Street Journal
Since becoming a ward of the state, giant insurer American International Group Inc. has had a powerful ally: the U.S. government.
In the latest example, some federal officials are pressing the U.S. pay czar to ease up on compensation restrictions at AIG for 2010, arguing that the firm, and ultimately the taxpayer, would suffer if the curbs are too severe, according to people familiar with the matter.
The relationship between AIG and the government is proving to be a political headache for the Obama administration…..
Start Date Is Critical in Ponzi Plan – NY Times
Bernard L. Madoff’s enormous Ponzi scheme ended on Dec. 11, 2008, when he was arrested at his Manhattan penthouse. But for some early victims, the date his crime started could matter much more than when it stopped.
A motion pending in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan contends that Mr. Madoff’s long-term investors cannot accurately calculate their losses until they know whether any of their original profits were legitimate. And to determine that, the motion continues, they must know when the Ponzi scheme began…..
Madoff liquidator seeks fees of $22.1m – Financial Times
Bernard Madoff’s bankruptcy trustee and his law firm have asked a federal judge to approve more than $22.1m in fees for five months of work trying to recover money for the victims of the fraudster’s $65bn Ponzi scheme…..
Fed Said to Ask Stress-Tested Banks to Submit Plans on TARP – Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve asked nine of the U.S. banks that were part of this year’s stress tests to submit plans for repaying the government’s capital injections, a person familiar with the situation said.
The central bank this month asked Bank of America Corp. and eight other banks to give plans including a timetable, said the person, speaking on condition of anonymity. The firms may have the option to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program funds soon if they’ve been able to raise common equity and would continue to exceed capital buffers set in the stress tests, the person said…..
Black’s Apollo Revives Plan for New York Stock Exchange Listing – NY Times
Apollo Global Management LLC, the buyout firm run by Leon Black and Joshua Harris, revived a plan to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange after a 15- month delay caused by the collapse of financial markets.
Apollo, based in New York, is registering 35.6 million Class A shares, more than a third of the total outstanding, according to a regulatory filing today. The shares currently trade privately, including on Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s GSTrUE exchange for institutions and wealthy individuals…..
Billions in Lehman accounts unfrozen – NY Post
More than $11 billion frozen in accounts at the collapsed Lehman Brothers could be released to clients, including hundreds of hedge funds, in the first quarter of 2010, thanks to a settlement in London.
The money is part of $35 billion in cash and assets, belonging to everyone from business school student groups to big funds like Harbinger Capital Partners, that Lehman had shifted to its London-based Lehman Brothers International when it imploded a year ago…..
U.K. Bankers Chafe Under the Microscope – Wall Street Journal
The U.K. is rapidly becoming the global laboratory for banking overhaul, and the bankers don’t like it. Bank chiefs privately are furious at the direction that new rules for capital, liquidity and bonuses are taking, fearing they will make their own institutions, and the U.K. itself, less competitive. Standard Chartered boss Peter Sands has publicly warned that banks likely will pass on the costs of any new rules to customers, undermining the economic recovery. Policy makers should take these threats with a pinch of salt…..
Nomura Fined $2.9 Million for Mis-marking Derivatives – Bloomberg
Nomura Holdings Inc.’s U.K. unit was fined 1.75 million pounds ($2.9 million) by Britain’s financial regulator for systems and controls that failed to identify the mis-marking of derivatives.
The Financial Services Authority in London said today that it fined Nomura International Plc for falling short of expected standards in valuing financial instruments in its International Equity Derivatives business. Mis-marking in 2008 worth a total of 16.3 million pounds was uncovered, which led to a Hong Kong- based trader being suspended, the agency said……
Murdoch courts trouble if he blocks Google on news – Reuters
…..But, his proposal is a gamble, and one that could hurt News Corp instead of helping it.
Murdoch is considering removing News Corp’s news from Google’s Web search results, and is talking to Microsoft Corp about listing the stories with its Bing search engine instead. Microsoft would pay for the privilege, sources have told Reuters, but it was not clear how much.
If Murdoch pulled this off, he will likely be followed by other newspaper publishers looking for ways to make money when all the old ones are waning in the digital age……
A Google News Defection May Dent The ‘Franchise’ – Wall Street Journal
…..The contribution of news content to Google’s massive search advertising business is generally thought to be minimal. That’s because advertisements placed alongside a search for news stories don’t generally create the same commercial opportunities as those done for a specific product or service, for example.
Conversely, news sites such as News Corp.’s online version of The Wall Street Journal depend heavily on Google’s popularity. According to data from Experian Hitwise, Google regularly accounts for more than 25% of WSJ.com’s Internet traffic.
Still, news is a key element of Google’s “franchise,” analysts say. And a defection of news providers could therefore dent its public image…….
Icahn outbids Penn for Fontainebleau Las Vegas – Reuters
Financier Carl Icahn has offered $156.5 million to acquire the partially built Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort, which has been stalled in bankruptcy court since June, according to the resort’s chief operating officer.
At a bankruptcy court hearing today in Miami, Icahn bid $105 million plus $51.4 million of debtor-in-possession financing, said COO Howard Karawan.
Penn, which said last week it had offered $50 million plus $51.5 million of DIP financing for the Fontainebleau, dropped out after raising its bid to $145 million, said Penn spokesman Joe Jaffoni…..
That GM Corvette deal was too good to be true – NY Post
If you recall my column last Thursday, I was thinking of using the automaker’s “60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee” program to nab myself a new Corvette to use while my own Chevy Camaro was in the shop.
Honestly, it started out as just a gag. I never intended to take the car.
But some people here pushed me to follow through — drive it around for a while and then bring it back to the dealer with a contented smile on my face and the keys in my hand.
So, I would be driving a Corvette around the city right now — if the GM program weren’t such a scam…..
Tags: AIG, Apollo, Bernie Madoff, Carl Icahn, Fed, GM, Google, Lehman Brothers, Leon Black, Microsoft, Nomura, Politics, ponzi schemes, Rupert Murdoch, TARP
