• Famed hedge fund manager Art Samberg has announced plans to shut down his firm, Pequot Capital Management, after an investigation into possible insider trading at the firm was revived. [NYT, WSJ]
• One person sweating bullets about Pequot's collapse: Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, who was tied to the mess when it first surfaced in '06. [BI]
• Citigroup is negotiating with the SEC to settle claims it misled investors by not disclosing the extent of its troubled portfolio of mortgage assets. [WSJ]
• Top Obama officials are pushing to create a "banking czar" job. [WSJ]
• The government program designed to help banks get rid of the bad loans on their books "is stalling and may soon be put on hold." [WSJ]

• The number of people collecting unemployment benefits has set a new record for the 17th straight week; mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures reached record levels during the first quarter, too. [WSJ, BN]
• Wes Edens-led Fortress Investment Group is moving into retail banking. [FT]
• The woman whose PR career imploded when her husband admitted to spying on her and later pleaded guilty to taking part in an insider trading scheme, has landed a new job at the PR firm Edelman. [NYP]
• Steve Rattner is worth at least $188 million, in case you were wondering about that. Also, he's an investor in Cerberus Capital Management, the investment fund that controlled Chrysler and GMAC, although the White House doesn't see that as a conflict. [BN, DB]