JPMorgan, BofA Earnings May Show Weaker Revenue (Bloomberg)
“While loan growth tends to be seasonally weak in the first quarter, this quarter is tracking worse than seasonality would suggest,” Barclays Capital Inc. analysts led by Jason Goldberg wrote in an April 8 report. “We fear companies have been disappointed.” Profits may have increased even with declining revenue as lenders set aside fewer funds to cover loan losses and in some cases released reserves they’ve already built up, said Matt Burnell, a banking analyst at Wells Fargo. Cost reductions may also help the bottom line in a smaller way, Burnell said.

Goldman Sachs Accused by Marvell Founders of Margin Call Fraud (BW)
Sehat Sutardja, Marvell’s chief executive officer, and Weili Dai, the company’s former chief operating officer, said they were duped into selling shares in 2008 that are now worth $141.5 million, according to a complaint filed yesterday in state court in San Francisco. Goldman Sachs pressured them by claiming a regulatory rule, which didn’t exist, required them to sell their stock, according to the complaint.

US Lawmakers Reach Agreement On $38 Billion In Cuts (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, high-speed rail and law enforcement are among the programs that would get reduced funding as part of a budget deal to avert a government shutdown, according to legislation unveiled this morning that identified specific cuts.

BofA Kept Executives In Dark On Dividends (WSJ)
The March 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission was more explicit than an earlier news release. It showed that the Federal Reserve had “objected” to the proposed dividend increase following a “stress test” of all major U.S. financial institutions. Shares of Bank of America, the only bank to disclose the Fed’s outright objection, dropped almost 4% in three days after the filing. But Chief Financial Officer Chuck Noski and Chief Accounting Officer Neil Cotty didn’t see the filing before it went to the SEC, people familiar with the matter said. Head of investor relations, Kevin Stitt, found out late the night before, according to one of these people.

Gupta Says His SEC Suit Should Be Heard In Federal Court (Bloomberg)
…instead of dismissing the complaint as the agency has requested.

Sokol Knew Lubrizol’s Board Would Be Told of Berkshire Interest (Bloomberg)
Sokol knew Dec. 17 that Lubrizol Corp Chief Executive Officer James Hambrick planned to notify his board of directors about Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s possible interest in acquiring the company. Sokol, who had inquired about Lubrizol through Citigroup Inc. bankers, was informed of Hambrick’s intention by the same bankers, according to a Lubrizol regulatory filing yesterday.

Hedge Funds Attract $35 Billion In February, Heaviest Inflow On Record (Barron’s)
Hedge funds attracted net inflows of $34.9 billion in February, their heaviest monthly inflow total on record, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. That helped to raise industry assets to $1.73 trillion, the highest level since October 2008.

Japan Nuclear Disaster Put on Par With Chernobyl (NYT)
The decision to raise the alert level to 7 from 5 on the scale, overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is based on new estimates by Japanese authorities that suggest the total amount of radioactive materials released so far from Fukushima Daiichi since the beginning of the crisis had reached that threshold.

Fed Plays Down Inflation (WSJ)
At the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Janet Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman, said U.S. monetary policy “continues to be appropriate.”

Super Jumbo Jet Clips Another Plane At JFK (WSJ)
The wing of an Airbus A380—the world’s largest passenger airliner—scraped against the tail of a much smaller regional jet at JFK Airport Monday night. The A380 was an Air France flight bound for Paris. It had left the terminal and was headed for the runway. Meanwhile, a Bombardier CRJ7 jet operated by Comair, which operates flights for Delta Air Lines, had just arrived from Boston and was taxiing toward its gate. As the two planes crossed on intersecting taxiways, the Airbus’s wing hit the rear of the smaller jet.

Facebook Claimant Says He Has Email Proof He Owns Half (Bloomberg)
Paul Ceglia alleges that Zuckerberg defrauded him, lying about the early success of “The Face Book” at Harvard University, where Zuckerberg was a student at the time. Ceglia claims he is entitled to half of Facebook…Ceglia claims in his complaint that he contributed “his time, ideas, knowhow, and other ‘sweat equity’” to the start of Facebook.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

What do we know about Lynn Tilton? She runs the $8 billion private equity firm Patriarch Partners, and prior to that worked on Wall Street with a slightly lower profile with gigs at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Amroc. She sports 5-inch heels to “look sufficiently fierce to make sure I garner the respect I deserve.” Her office is decorated with whips, handcuffs, and a portrait of her “stretched across the hood of a black Mercedes.” She only “strips and flips men, not companies.” And she once sent a Christmas card to customers that featured a stuffed tiger, a naughty Santa suit and a whip. But that’s all surface. Until now, we haven’t really gotten to the mystery underneath the Roberto Cavalli miniskirt and a fur-trimmed cape, or determined her motivations and what makes Tilton tick. Luckily, Lynn recently granted audience with New York and let it all out. Every burning question you’ve wanted answered. Like:

Why did she decide to start Patriach, when she’d retired from Wall Street, had “a good-looking man, great sex, a small island, and was still looking good in a thong bikini”? A vision.

One night, on vacation in Costa Rica, she woke suddenly. “I was laying there in this hotel room, and I saw my father and my Mayan teacher very vividly,” she explains. “They said this was not what was planned for me. I said, ‘Why did I go through this path, to empty myself out of any needs or material longings, only to be sent back to New York to be a businessperson?’ And the answer was: You’re not capable of leading until nothing can hold you back. Get your ass back to New York. So I got up in the middle of the night and left.”

Does she see herself as the female George Soros? Yes.

Tilton’s goal is “to be part of the intelligentsia. An enlightened thinker. One of the people who are called together to think through economic issues for America. You know, like how George Soros is called on issues.”

Why is she pissed at Obama, for whom she voted? He hasn’t called her and she highly suspects he’s plagiarised her work.

“Look, I am the largest female business owner in this country,” she says, coming out from behind the rack in a Herve Leger gown. “I own 74 midsize businesses, and Obama has not once called me into the White House on these issues.” More offensive, Tilton claims, as a female stylist reaches into the bodice of the dress to plump up her cleavage, the president has borrowed language from her articles. “I mean actually lifting pieces,” she says. “Literally, I can give you paragraphs. I got like twenty e-mails after his speech, when he was like, ‘We need to be innovators and the makers of things.’ ”

Why doesn’t she cover up her breasts, despite being told “too much boob” will hinder her grand aspirations? They’re part of her total package.

“I think the fact that I look like this hinders me in some ways,” Tilton says between outfit changes. “But that’s also what makes me so much more fascinating, right? I mean, hello. I’m just trying to be someone who provides it all.”

Why did she send out the Christmas card pictured at left (first published here in ’09)to her clients?

By 1998, she had $10 million in the bank, enough to support herself and Carly for life, and she decided it was time to retire. She left her job at the time, as a partner at Amroc, though not before sending clients a Christmas card that has since become legendary: Double-sided, it featured two photographs, one of Tilton in a red lace bodysuit and Santa hat, straddling a stepladder, and the other of her wielding a whip in black lingerie and high vinyl boots. Her clients “were always asking what color underwear I was wearing,” she says. “So that was my farewell gift.”

What kind of grooming does Tilton go for? The full monty.

“I’m all about transparency,” she explains, as the dress falls to the floor. She’s not wearing any underwear. “Where do you get someone who’s worth looking at and listening to?” Stark naked except for her Gucci heels, seamless Brazilian Bronze tan, and diamond necklace, she flicks through the rack of clothes.

What is her go-to joke, used in both the Patriarch offices and during bankruptcy auctions?

“There are three universal lies: Margins are weak, but we’ll make it up in volume; the check’s in the mail; and I won’t come in your mouth.”

Will she be honest about what she thinks of your waistline? Yes.

Once, in front of a roomful of people at another company, she grabbed an overweight executive by his collar and dragged him over to a mirror. “What do you see?” she demanded. “Because I see a lazy, fat fuck.”

Does she believe in playing good cop and bad cop? Both of those, and maybe the cop who will sodomize you a little bit sometimes, too.

“I hug people when they walk into the room, I smack the crap out of them when we’re in there, and I hug them on the way out,” she told me in February. “You have to have that warmth and that fierceness.”

What was she put on earth to do?

Giliotti recalls a conversation he had with Tilton after the takeover of Stila cosmetics in 2009. Tilton was getting her makeup done by an employee, who happened to mention the cuts that Giliotti had made since the takeover: the layoffs, the salary reductions, and the people who had found themselves personally saddled with the bill for their corporate AmEx. Tilton called Giliotti immediately. “Emil, we can’t do this,” she said. “This is not me. I’m not put on this Earth to do this. I was put on this Earth to save jobs and help people.”

What will this be the year of?

“This year,” she says, “is going to be the year of Ruthless.”

And Jell-O shots. It’s always the year of the Jell-O shot.

What Does It Take For A Female Tycoon To Get Noticed Around Here? [NYM]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Go HERE for more photos by Frankie Pimentel and tag you and your friends!

To the horror of mustachioed hipsters and electro enthusiasts everywhere, Saturday night was the very last time LCD Soundsystem played at anyone’s house (sorry, couldn’t resist working that in there somehow). Why, James Murphy, why?! Read the full story

Berkshire’s David Sokol: I Did Nothing Wrong (CNBC)
“I don’t believe I did anything wrong…I made the decision to buy the shares because I thought it was a good investment and I’d do it again tomorrow.” Sokol says it didn’t occur to him to sell the shares once Buffett showed interest in Lubrizol because he would have no influence over Berkshire’s decision.

Buffett Jolted After Aide Quits (WSJ)
Mr. Sokol’s interest in Lubrizol began after Citigroup bankers presented a list of “possible transactions” to him last fall, according to an SEC filing released Friday by Lubrizol. On Dec. 13, Mr. Sokol and the bankers met to discuss the list, and he expressed interest in Lubrizol, according to the filing. Mr. Sokol asked Citigroup to relay to Lubrizol CEO James Hambrick his interest in meeting to discuss Berkshire and Lubrizol. Mr. Sokol made his first personal purchase of Lubrizol shares the next day, buying 2,300 shares, according to Wednesday’s statement. He sold the shares a week later, it said.

Galleon Calls Detail Goldman Insight (WSJ)
“I heard yesterday from somebody who’s on the board of Goldman Sachs that they are going to lose $2 per share,” Mr. Rajaratnam said on the tape. “The Street has them making $2.50.” “Really,” said David Lau, a Galleon portfolio manager in Singapore. “So what he was telling me was that uh, Goldman, the quarter’s pretty bad. They have zero revenues because their trading revenues are offset by asset losses, and to date they have lost $2 per share,” Mr. Rajaratnam says on the call. “I don’t think that’s built into Goldman Sachs’ stock price.”

Dimon Warns of Regulatory ‘Nail’ in Coffin (FT)
Regulators are negotiating international capital standards for the biggest banks but the chief executive of JP Morgan said setting the new requirements too high, or allowing overseas banks to calculate their asset base differently, could disadvantage US banks and was already stifling economic growth. “If you want to set it so high that no big bank ever goes bankrupt… I think that would greatly diminish growth,” he told a US Chamber of Commerce conference. Too large a disparity in capital requirements between Europe and the US would mean “you’re pretty much putting the nail in our coffin for big American banks,” he said.

Fed To Name Banks That Borrowed From The Discount Window (Bloomberg)
Can you hardly wait?

Insider Case Puts Focus On FDA Systems (WSJ)
“Darrts is a brilliant system,” said a former FDA department head, but vulnerable because it allows anyone who knows the application number and has a password to get a full status report on any drug approval application.

Schapiro SEC Seen Ineffectual Amid Dodd-Frank Funding Curbs (Bloomberg)
On a stormy night in October 2009, Mary Schapiro, the newly appointed head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, returned to her alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to be inducted into the hall of fame for student athletes. Receiving her award, she grasped the podium, confessed she was near tears and spoke of how she had never even seen a lacrosse game before attending college. “But I knew if I worked hard and persevered, I might ultimately play,” she said. She competed for four years and served as captain of the team in her senior year, when it went 7-4. Today, Schapiro, 55, faces challenges a good bit nastier than a muddy lacrosse game.

Ex-Goldman trader launching $1 billion-plus fund (Reuters)
Former Goldman Sachs trader Morgan Sze is set to launch his highly anticipated $1 billion-plus hedge fund, Azentus Capital, in Hong Kong on Friday.

Geithner: Biggest Problem Is ‘Not Complicated’ (Reuters)
While major currencies moved freely and most emerging economies were well along that path, there were still some with little exchange rate flexibility and extensive capital controls, he said. This asymmetry fueled inflation risks in the economies whose exchange rates are undervalued, magnified currency appreciation in others and also generated protectionist pressures, he added. “This is the most important problem to solve in the international monetary system today. But it is not a complicated problem to solve,” he said, according to the prepared text of his remarks.

Geithner Calls For Rate Flexibility (WSJ)
Mr. Geithner didn’t specifically name China’s currency in remarks prepared for delivery at the Nanjing forum, but his comments were clearly aimed at least in part at Beijing, which closely manages the yuan’s exchange rate. He characterized the mismatch between fixed and floating exchange rates as “the most important problem to solve in the international monetary system today,” and he said flexible exchange rates can help countries better absorb shocks and better tailor monetary policies to their individual circumstances.

Will Barclays Turn Its Back On Britain? (WSJ)
The bank is undertaking detailed analysis of likely regulatory hurdles to switching its domicile to New York and has had preliminary conversations with U.S. regulatory officials, says a person involved in the process. It estimates the cost of a switch at “several hundreds of millions of pounds” in addition to the £30 million ($48 million) it expects to spend on preparatory work. No decision is expected until at least September, after the direction of U.K. financial regulation is clearer and key elements of the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul bill have been clarified.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

We thought we’d seen it all but this is a moment of true distinction. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get any more woeful in the hot mess that is Mel Gibson’s last couple of years on earth, we’re delivered this Monday morning nugget. So a huge thank you to him for making my job this easy by deciding to spend his Saturday night at SBE’s embarrassment to L.A. and its conception of the Hamptons, The Colony. …COLONY? On a Saturday a.k.a. official amateur night?! And let’s just pause for second here: that tragedy on wheels is still open?? I mean, wow on all fronts; you CANNOT make this type of magic up! Mel, PLEASE inform us of who advised you that this was a good idea, we definitely need to send them a fruit basket of sorts. Read the full story

Go HERE for more photos by  Venus Tong and tag yourselves and your friends!

In yet another L.A. Fashion Week affair, last Friday, it was for the greater good with an event to raise funds for The Life Group LA at Echo Park’s Capsule Labs presented by Pressed. Read the full story

Go HERE for more photos by Venus Tong and tag yourself and your friends!

Wednesday night, THv PR and Angeleno Magazine pulled out all the stops and more for their Fashion Night @ supperclub Vogue Theatre 2011 L.A. fashion week extravaganza (because “event” would not do it justice). And in a town full of people who love nothing more than to be in the spotlight, some of the guests nearly stole the show, but not quite… Read the full story

Go HERE for more photos by Venus Tong and tag yourself and your friends!

Wednesday night, THv PR and Angeleno Magazine pulled out all the stops and more for their Fashion Night @ supperclub Vogue Theatre 2011 L.A. fashion week extravaganza (because “event” would not do it justice). And in a town full of people who love nothing more than to be in the spotlight, some of the guests nearly stole the show, but not quite… Read the full story

As you may have heard, March Madness kicks off tomorrow. Despite this being the most wonderful time of the year for many, there exists one financial services hack who wants to destroy it for everyone. He’s announced his plan to (anonymously) report any colleagues he catches filling out brackets and keeping tabs on their picks during business hours. Does he work at your company? Maybe! Should you take a stand regardless? Yes! How so? By entering as many pools as you possibly can, making it impossible for him to keep up with the amount of people and their various offenses he must rat out. To that end, we’d like to help do our part. Today we introduce the First Annual Dealbreaker NCAA Tournament Challenge. You don’t need a reason to sign up besides the right to say you won the DBNCAATC but as an aside, the winner will receive dinner for him/herself plus three colleagues and/or friends at Peter Luger’s, followed by an outing to UBS favorite Beamer’s, an embroidered Patagonia and an ‘I love Dealbreaker’ button.**

The pool will be managed by Dealbreaker Commenter and Friend NakedShort, who, along with myself, will answer any questions you might have, provide color if warranted (rip everyone’s brackets to shreds, call out the bottom 5 performers), etc. Sign up here now. So it is abundantly clear, if you do not want participants to know your real name, MAKE SURE TO FILL OUT SOMETHING ELSE IN THE NAME FIELDS. For example, if your ID is Godswork, rather than writing Lloyd B, enter first name: Gods, last name: work. To that end, if you don’t want people to see your email address, from the bracket page, click ‘options’ and then ‘hide email.’ If you feel it necessary, create an entirely new email account specfically for this challenge. Finally, don’t use HisHoliness as your ID because Alan Greenspan’s already called dibs.

The pool password is: animalliar

Good luck!

Dealbreaker NCAA Tournament Challenge [CBS Sports]

**If your religious beliefs, significant other or sexual preference preclude you from enjoying Stamford’s premier strip club, we will come up with an alternative. Same goes for those outside of the tri-state area who don’t deem this worthy to fly in for.
***A dollar limit on the night will be imposed but rest assured I’ve calculated it very generously.
****Fine print we have to mention: For some legal reason, Rhode Island has to be excluded- sorry Rhode Island. Void wherever else prohibited.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Go HERE for more photos by Janey Feingold and tag yourself and your friends!

Despite their name, there was nothing tongue-in-cheek about Feed a Model‘s “The City…” art show event on Friday night where its model members put their creative works on display. Read the full story