A few hundred will be told their services are no longer necessary.

Morgan Stanley will lay off 200 to 300 trainees and lower-producing financial advisers in its brokerage joint venture, according to a person familiar with the situation…Trainees likely to be laid off include brokers who have worked at the firm for six to 36 months who had $25,000 or less in annual production. Lower producers who could be let go include five-year industry veterans who have been with Morgan Stanley for more than a year and have an annual production under $75,000.

There is, however, some hope.

“If someone is showing growth potential, there is discretion involved,” the person said.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

As their being charged in the Feds’ massive insider trading case would seem to suggest, former SAC Capital traders Donald Longueuil and Noah Freeman may have had a somewhat elastic view of securities laws. Should the accusations hold up, the two men ought to be punished accordingly. Today though, we’d like to put Freeman on trial for something far worse: his heinous and premeditated betrayal of the one guy who was always there for him, who literally got Freeman out of bed in his darkest days. A crime within a crime, if you will.

It’s already been widely known that Longueuil and Freeman (whose name will be interchangeably used with ‘Judas’ for the purpose of this story) were both colleagues and friends from SAC Capital. But they knew each other well-before they took their gigs at the hedge fund and their friendship ran much deeper than being casual buds. In 2002, they met “through a shared interest in ice skating” and competed together in Massachusetts. Noah helped Freeman get a job in Connecticut at Empire Capital in 2004 and the two remained close even despite the distance. When Judas got married in 2009, it was Don who served as best man at his wedding in Maine, standing beside Freeman as he watched his wife to be walk down the aisle, “smiling,” it’s noted, because he was so happy for his friend. It’s a moment that almost didn’t happen because not too many years earlier, Freeman was an emotional basketcase, having been dumped by a previous fiancée. Who helped him “pick up the pieces”? His best buddy Don, of course.

Mr. Freeman later told co-workers he couldn’t have made it through the time without him. “I needed Don to get me out of bed this morning,” he said at one point, according to the person familiar with the situation.

AND HOW DID JUDAS REPAY THIS ACT OF BROTHERHOOD? By cutting the best deal possible for himself when the Feds came a’ calling. He told the federal officials he’d secretly tape the person who was not just his colleague but his closest friend. And whereas someone else might’ve made a halfhearted attempt to incriminate his buddy and then gone back to the government and said he couldn’t get anything, Judas made sure.

During their meeting, on Monday Dec. 20, Mr. Freeman tried at least four times to get his friend to admit he traded on inside tips, according to transcripts: “We both did, didn’t we?” Mr. Freeman asked, according to the transcripts.

“Yeah,” Mr. Longueuil said.

What did Freeman get in exchange for selling his friend down the river by making him say out loud, STEP BY STEP, exactly how he destroyed evidence of the insider trading they both took part in? Permission to go on vacation.

At Mr. Freeman’s plea hearing, prosecutors and a judge said Mr. Freeman could travel in coming months to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he plans to attend triathlons with his wife.

I hope you crash your bike and break your two front teeth, while you leave your former friend in the trenches taking grenades, you selfish son on of a bitch. Good luck finding another dude who will dry your tears.

Manager Took Down Best Friend In Insider Trading Case [WSJ]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Like a Thai hooker with the clap.

The New York-based firm, which oversees roughly $19 billion in assets, plans to lower its fees to a 2.5 percent management fee and a 25 percent performance fee, said the person, who was not permitted to speak about the matter publicly. The move comes only a few weeks after D.E. Shaw, founded more than two decades ago by David Shaw, delivered fresh disappointing performance numbers, the investor said.

Previously, the firm charged a 3 percent management fee plus a 30 percent performance fee.

Considering the measures taken indicate they’re desperate to hold on to customers, you can most likely negotiate practically anything (no minimum, no lock-up) and maybe even try stuff in the moment that you never agreed to earlier (come in and trade for a day) and it’ll go by without much argument.

DE Shaw Cuts Fees [Reuters]

Related: Absurd Speculation That SAC Capital Might Lower Its Fees On Account Of Investor Demand Can Be Nipped In The Bud Right Now

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

$$$ Big Hedge Funds Are Snapping Up Municipal Bonds [CNBC]

$$$ Tepper’s Appaloosa Boosts Bank Bets, Goes For Beaten-Up Tech [StreetInsider]

$$$ Fannie, Freddie Could Cost $169 Billion to 2012 [Bloomberg]

$$$ Berkshire Hathaway Eliminates Stakes in 8 Stocks [CNBC]

$$$ Happy V-Day! If you don’t yet have someone to spend the night with, this love expert interviewed by TheStreet.com suggests “getting out of the office” and “going places where you can meet member’s of the opposite sex.” For those of you who do have a boo, she recommends gift giving with the person in mind, not something the girl you were dating five years ago would have liked. [TSC]

$$$ Charlie Sheen says he’s ready to start shooting episodes of ‘Two and a Half Men’ [NYP]

$$$ If you’re a woman of Wall Street working in Japan for the first time, be advised: “On Valentine’s Day in Japan, women buy chocolates for male coworkers rather than husbands and lovers, a tradition called “giri choco,” or “obligation chocolate.” With Feb. 14 falling on a weekday for the first time in three years, analysts say that’s a boon for candy makers like Meiji Holdings Ltd., Morinaga & Co., and Morozoff Ltd. ” [Bloomberg]

$$$ Bailout cop Barofsky resigns as TARP winds down [Reuters]

$$$ General Motors Co. said Monday that its 45,000 U.S. hourly workers will get at least $4,000 each under a profit-sharing agreement with the United Auto Workers that is paying off amid the auto maker’s return to profitability. [WSJ]

$$$ Donald Trump has made an enemy of Ron Paul [Gawker]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Amy with husband #2

First off, do you know what an “office spouse” is? If not, the Journal offers a definition today, in a piece exploring whether or not it’s appropriate to buy this person a Valentine’s Day gift. An office husband or wife, they say, is a member of the opposite sex with whom you have a close relationship with at work, so close that it resembles a marriage but it’s entirely platonic. This is not someone you’re having an affair with on the side and in fact, your real husband, wife or significant other likely knows your office mate and is cool with the situation. Take Amy McMahon. She has a boyfriend of ten years, Casey Hoover, and she also has a office bf/husb/whatever you want to call him of three years, Kian Weaver. As they are are her number one guys at home and at work, respectively, she’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day with both of them. Is that awkward? Supposedly not! In fact, Casey claims to love the set up.

Mr. Hoover says he knows all about Ms. McMahon’s plans with Mr. Weaver. In fact, Mr. Hoover says he and Mr. Weaver are friends and work out together. He sees Mr. Weaver’s bond with his girlfriend as “a win-win.” When Mr. Weaver advises Ms. McMahon on relationship matters, “she gets the perspective of another guy, and sometimes it makes my life easier,” Mr. Hoover says.

Right then. So, who here has got a work ball and chain?

Does Your Work Wife Get A Valentine? [WSJ]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Charlie Gasparino reports that in the wake of Meredith Whitney’s apocalypse prediction, “investors have sold their muni holdings in droves,” with PIMCO being hit “particularly hard.” Though he’s remained civil in public, the usually affable Bill Gross feels like he’s been kicked in the cojones and has supposedly “launched an all-out war to discredit Whitney’s research in an attempt to restore confidence in the $3 trillion municipal-bond market.”

But it hasn’t abated enough for Pimco. While Gross quietly jabs at Whitney in his television commentaries, his people on the ground in charge of selling bond funds to brokers are playing offense. According to one person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Pimco representative said that they money management firm has even obtained a copy of Whitney’s report, and it “wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.”

The Pimco representative said, according to this person, that the money management firm paid $10,000 to obtain the report and considered having Whitney herself address analysts at the money management firm, but decided not to because officials there believed her analysis to be superficial.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Charlie Gasparino is hearing that senior bonuses at Citi this year will be paid out half in stock that vests in five years and half in cash that only 20 percent of which is immediately available (30% of the cash portion will supposedly be awarded in two years). For those who don’t know you’re supposed to stop pushing the Q-tip when there’s resistance who may be having trouble figuring out why some people wouldn’t be so happy about being paid in such a structure, Chaz’s source explains:

“Just do the math,” this person said. “You get a bonus of $1 million, just 20% of it you receive on the pay date. You’re left with $200,000 cash and half of that is taken in taxes. That’s why these guys are so pissed.”

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Said to Put New Private-Equity Fund Into Facebook (Bloomberg)
Tiger Global has $1 billion in commitments and plans to line up an additional $250 million by next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Coleman, 35, has steered about $80 million from the new pool into Facebook, whose more than 600 million users make it the top social-networking site.

Treasury Announces Citigroup’s Warrant Auction (AP)
The government says it will sell 465.1 million warrants it holds from Citigroup in an auction on Tuesday. It is the latest effort to recoup costs from the $700 billion financial bailout.

Morgan Stanley Banker Drawn Into Galleon Probe (WSJ)
Kamal Ahmed, 42 years old, is the first Wall Street banker publicly drawn into the Galleon investigation. The government is preparing for Mr. Rajaratnam’s trial late in February. Mr. Ahmed wasn’t named in the filing but people close to the situation say he is the banker referred to anonymously by the government. Mr. Ahmed was put on leave on Friday in connection to the filing. He hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and it isn’t clear if he will be charged in the case. The government filing on Friday said that the unnamed Morgan Stanley banker informed another person that ATI Technologies Inc. was going to be acquired by AMD. The other person, whose name was also redacted from the filing, told Mr. Rajaratnam about the acquisition, the filing says.

Obama’s Address Previews 2012 Race (WSJ)
The speech and the Republican response are likely to frame contrasting philosophies that will drive political discourse for the next two years. Mr. Obama has chosen “competitiveness” and “investment” as terms to guide discussion over how to create jobs, daring Republicans to resist his push for new spending in areas that he will call vital to the nation’s future. He will seek to wall off education, infrastructure, science and energy from cuts, in effect making them the ground on which the 2012 campaign is to be fought.

Mortgage Giants Leave Legals Bills To Taxpayers (NYT)
Taxpayers have paid $24.2 million to law firms defending three of Fannie’s former top executives: Franklin D. Raines, its former chief executive; Timothy Howard, its former chief financial officer; and Leanne Spencer, the former controller.

US Treasury’s Toxic Asset Fund Gains 27% (Reuters)
Since the funds were established in 2009, they have used about $5.2 billion of Treasury’s equity investment to buy toxic assets. As of the end of 2010, the funds have gained $1.1 billion to about $6.3 billion, according to the data.

Metals Traders Worth $3 Million at Wall Street Banks (Bloomberg)
Metals traders probably earned as much as 20 percent more last year than in 2009, with the most-profitable getting $2 million to $3 million, said Peter Henry, head of front-office search at Commodity Search Partners Ltd. The figure, confirmed by three other recruiters who declined to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly, compares with no change to a drop of 10 percent in pay across commodities personnel. “Metals traders are an exception when there’s pressure on banks to cut remuneration,” New York-based Henry said. They “are making more money than other parts of the banks and the bonuses reflect that to some extent,” he said.

Woman Dies in Driveway as Cold Hits Northeast (AP)
An arctic blast from Canada is responsible for some of the frigid temperatures in the northern U.S. and some of the coldest air to hit the Northeast in two years. The cold was linked to at least two deaths in the Northeast, including that of a woman whose frozen body was found in a driveway.

Groupon Less Than `100% Committed’ to IPO, Chief Executive Mason Says (Bloomberg)
“An IPO is something we are considering, but we’re just trying to learn more about the option at this point and understand the benefits and drawbacks,” Mason said.

Goldman’s Long Bond Shows Inflation Concerns Are Waning (Bloomberg)
The bank received $9 billion in orders for its $2.5 billion of notes sold on Jan. 21, according to Mizuho Securities USA. The 6.25 percent senior bonds yield 170 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, at the low end of a 5-basis-point range marketed by the New York-based firm, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

JC Penney To Name William Ackman To Board (WSJ)
The company agreed to name the activist investor and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, Steven Roth, to its board as the department-store operator also outlined plans to close underperforming locations, wind down its catalogue and outlet operations and consolidate its call centers.

More Hiring Is Expected (WSJ)
The fourth-quarter poll of 84 companies by the National Association for Business Economics found 42% expected to increase jobs in the next six months. That is up from 29% in the first quarter of 2010. Only 7% of companies in the latest survey predict they will shed jobs in the coming six months, down from 23% at the start of last year.

Steve Eisman On Losing Streak (NYP)
Eisman’s FrontPoint Financial Services, which launched in 2004, was down 8.3 percent through Dec. 31, and FrontPoint Financial Horizons Fund slipped 7.7 percent. In 2010, the two funds were the firm’s worst performers, according to reports sent to clients.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Early in the morning of Oct. 16, 2009, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation knocked on Ms. Chiesi’s door, confronting her with the evidence they had gathered. She walked into the hallway of her Manhattan apartment, worried about letting the agents in because they might find a marijuana joint in the apartment from a party the night before, according to a person familiar with the matter. When the agents asked her if she had a weapon, she told them she had a fish and a cat, the person says. [WSJ via Daily Intel]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Morgan Stanley Profit Surges (Fortune)
The bank made $1.1 billion, or 43 cents a share, from continuing operations. That’s up from $653 million, or 18 cents a share, on a comparable basis a year ago and ahead of the 35-cent analyst consensus estimate.Revenue rose 14% from a year ago to $7.8 billion, beating the $7.4 billion analyst target. Revenue rose 12% in institutional securities and 7% in global wealth management. Within institutional securities, principal transactions trading revenue fell 27% from a year ago.

FrontPoint’s Steve Eisman Weighs Leaving The Firm (WSJ)
Mr. Eisman, 48 years old, said Wednesday in response to questions about his plans, “At this point in my career, I want to have more control over my destiny.” He said he hasn’t decided on a structure for a potential new firm, and he plans to continue managing investments for FrontPoint, as well as for other investors, in any event.

David Tepper Is Cautious For 2011 (NYP)
Tepper said while “the biggest opportunities” will remain in equities, 2011 will be “harder and not without risk.” “When things go up too high, they will go down,” Tepper said, referring to the recent market surge, which saw the S&P 500 close the year up 13 percent, in line with his prediction.

Initial Jobless Claims in U.S. Fell to 404,000 Last Week (Bloomberg)
Applications for jobless benefits decreased 37,000 in the week ended Jan. 15, the biggest decline since February 2010, to 404,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 420,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls fell, while those getting extended payments rose.

More Than 100 Suspected Mobsters Arrested (WSJ)
The arrests were made around the New York area on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, extortion and murder, a person familiar with the situation said. The takedown involved accused members and associates of all five New York organized-crime families: the Gambinos, Genoveses, Bonnanos, Luccheses and Colombos, this person said. Also arrested were members of the DeCavalcantes in Newark, N.J., and accused New England mobsters in Providence, R.I.

Spain To Ramp Up Bank Bailouts (WSJ)
In a first step, Spain is preparing to issue €3 billion ($4 billion) in debt in coming days, the people familiar with the matter said. Government officials are putting plans in place to eventually raise as much as €30 billion, according to these people, though some say the final tally will be less.

Blackstone on Pensions: ‘We Oppose Scapegoating Public Employees’ (Deal Journal)
“Blackstone’s view on public employee pensions is clear and unambiguous: We believe a pension is a promise. Working men and women should not have to worry about their retirement security after years of service to their communities. We oppose scapegoating public employees by blaming them for the structural budget deficits that cities and states face. We at Blackstone are committed to helping public employees retire with confidence in the strength and reliability of their pensions.”

Carlos Slim: Invest In Mexico Or Else (CNBC)
In fact, he says those choosing not to invest in Mexico are making a big mistake: They will lose. “If they are already here, they will lose market share. If they are not here they will lose a very big market. We are 110-112 million people, and growing the economy,” Slim says.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker