Donald Trump can't seem to go a day without running into a financial crisis of some sort. His Chicago condo project has been in trouble for months now; a few weeks ago, his Atlantic City casino empire filed for bankruptcy; and just last week a Trump-branded apartment building in Mexico went bust, leaving buyers who put down deposits out in the cold. Today's news: The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas is in trouble, according to the Journal, which says that three-fourths of the buyers in the condo-hotel have failed to close contracts. And there's bad news closer to home today, too: He's now in arrears for failing to pay rent on the site of his planned "catering hall-restaurant" at Jones Beach. Guess we'll have to just hope that Ivanka's jewelry line is doing a bit better so she can support her dad in his old age. [WSJ, Newsday]

Were you concerned that the financial crisis might have put a damper on Steve Schwarzman's birthday party? (He turned 62 last Saturday; we suggested you send him some stone crabs.) It turns out the billionaire's party this year was considerably less lavish than the event he hosted in 2007 when he spent upwards of $3 million to throw a bash at the Armory, invited everyone in town, and hired Rod Stewart to perform. Yesterday, Steve treated Blackstone employees to cake in the boardroom, although you'll be pleased to hear that the mogul's tendency to show off has not been diminished. Recessionwire has the scoop: "Yesterday, we’re told, Blackstone Group employees were invited to a giant boardroom for a brief roast (no, not a toast) and some cake. But it wasn't all humble pie. Huge flat-screens in the rooms displayed the birthday invitation—a map showing the many miles Schwarzman had traveled in the last year, complete with cute little pictures of private planes." [Recessionwire]

The New York Times needed a tough story on Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, to prove its newsroom's independence after borrowing $250 million from the guy. The story's here! But is it tough? Eh.

Hedge fund titan John Paulson has even more reason to beef up the landscaping outside his $41 million Southampton home today. As shares of the British bank Lloyds plummeted by more than 40 percent this afternoon, the billionaire short-seller made $67 million in less than 25 minutes. So how did your day go? [Bloomberg via Dealbreaker]

A handful of news outlets have been reporting that Michael Bloomberg is officially the "most generous living man in America," having given away a total of $235 million over the course of 2008, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Bloomberg didn't come in No. 1 on the list, though. As NY1 tells it, "Bloomberg actually ranked ninth overall on the list. He was topped by eight others who died last year and gave greater amounts away in their wills." We're guessing this news will come as a big surprise to the still-living couple that came in at No. 3, Pete Peterson and his wife, Joan Ganz Cooney. [NY1, NYT]

Real estate mogul and Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman had a rep as quite the ladies' man when he was younger. His conquests over the years have included Nora Ephron, Diane von Furstenberg, Gloria Steinem, Arianna Huffington, and Patricia Duff. (And just because he's 71 doesn't mean he's slowing down any; he welcomed a daughter into the world in late December, although he didn't disclose who the mother is.) But it's safe to say that his many paramours haven't been drawn to him for his sense of style. Click here for a look back at a few of Zuckerman's most unfortunate fashion moments over the past three decades.

Grim news for residents of Greenwich: Real estate prices plunged the most in three decades in 2008—the median home price fell 7 percent—and the number of houses sold dropped by more than a third as the financial crisis roiled the finance-heavy suburb. Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen isn't selling his 31,642-square-foot, nine-bedroom palace, as far as we know. But if he were going to do so, it's safe to say having a 6,734-square-foot ice skating rink on your property isn't worth as much as it once was. [NYP]

The New York Times appears to be on the verge of signing a deal with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim to invest $250 million in the company. If your last name is "Sulzberger," be concerned.

What do you get when you mix the potent trends of Russian oligarchs buying pop stars for private concerts and Kanye West getting booed? The funnest New Year's Eve story of awful 2008!

John Catsimatidis is the billionaire owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain. He was also seriously considering a bid for mayor, at least when it looked like he wouldn't have to go head-to-head with Michael Bloomberg. Oh, how Catsimatidis's fortunes have changed since then. In September, a federal judge ruled that his company had violated federal and state laws by failing to pay overtime to hundreds of supermarket employees. Then Bloomberg successfully pushed for a change in term limit laws, which cleared the way for him to run for a third term and also foiled Catsimatidis' plan to be New York's second billionaire mayor. And now he suffered yet another embarrassing legal defeat.

Ron Burkle, the lecherous billionaire and former pal of imprisoned con man Raffaello Follieri, just bought a stake in Whole Foods! So the next time you spend $11 for two tomatoes, feel free to ponder whether your hard-earned cash will go pay for his $30,000-a-month suite at the Bowery Hotel, a new Polo shirt, or to buy bottles of Cristal at Marquee. [NYT/Dealbook]

It's not easy making billions while everyone else is losing their shirts. Just ask John Paulson, the founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Co. who collected $3.7 billion in 2007 and, unlike the vast majority of his peers, had a fantastically profitable 2008, too. Of course, making money off the collapse of the global economy isn't the sort of thing that earns you many fans, as Gary Weiss points out in the new issue of Portfolio: "It's hard to see how any financier who made a fortune from market turbulence can improve his public image when the economy is in such serious trouble... Traders like Paulson will probably never be popular. They might as well get used to it."

A German billionaire killed himself after hefty stock losses. A French money manager committed suicide after losing billions to Bernie Madoff. Is shame confined to the Old World?

German billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the 100 richest people in the world, has killed himself by jumping in front of a train—emotionally "broken" over a bad bet on Volkswagen last year.

It looks like the Greenwich planning commission is giving hedge funder Steve Cohen an early Chrismukkah present: It voted 5-to-0 in favor of his application to add an additional 1,145 square feet to his already-ridiculous 35,084-square-foot house. (Yes, he's the guy with a Rockefeller Center-sized ice rink and Zamboni on his property.) Coming soon to the Cohen residence: A bit more storage space, a "breakfast room," and an expanded "his" dressing room, which he'll undoubtedly fill up with those fleece jackets he's so fond of. [Dealbook]

Who, exactly, are the rich suckers who just got bilked out of $50 billion (collectively) by Hedge Fund Hustler extraordinaire Bernie Madoff? Here are the names we know so far:

William Cohan, the banker-turned-author who published The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. last year, has a few details on just how much Bruce Wasserstein's investment banking firm is making off the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. For advising Bryan Marsal, the turnaround guru who is now running what's left of Lehman, Lazard is collecting $400,000 a month for the next two years (and then $150,000 a month thereafter). But there's more: Lazard is also getting a $5 million fee for the week's worth of work it did in September advising Lehman on the sale of its headquarters at 750 Seventh Avenue to Barclays. Wasserstein is also expected to receive another $5 million for its efforts to sell Lehman's investment-management businesses, including Neuberger Berman. And there's good reason to assume that Wasserstein is sitting back right now smiling at his current circumstances, says Cohan:

So, former MSNBC guy Dan Abrams is starting a "consulting" firm full of random media people to give advice to rich corporate clients about how to handle media-related issues. Do you know what that's called? It's called a PR firm. But this PR firm would never call itself that, because that would make the media people it employs sound corrupt. The thing is, this firm's business plan is so annoying that the rest of the media (us) is going to cover its clients even harder to make up for it. For example! Abrams' first client is billionaire Ron Perelman. Now why would Ron Perelman need to worry about his reputation?

When the Yellowstone Club filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, company execs were quick to reassure the clubs roster of billionaire moguls that the resort would remain open for the ski season. Now it looks like Bill Gates, Barry Sternlicht, Peter Chernin, Dan Quayle and the club's other members are going to need to find someplace else to spend Christmas vacation. Court filings indicate that the club doesn't have enough money to make monthly payroll, or even pay this month's food and electricity bills. What will happen? One suggestion: "Gates can just buy it and save the hassle of worrying about where to ski this winter." [WSJ]

Like most hedge fund moguls, Steve Cohen hasn't been having a very good run recently. (His flagship fund is reportedly down 18 percent so far this year.) But that isn't stopping the billionaire from making some home improvements: The proud owner of one of the most over-the-top estates in America is now looking to make his mansion even bigger. Last night, an application by Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, was put before the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission. The couple is seeking permission to add another 1,145 square feet to their already-massive 35,000-square-foot Crown Lane home. There's no word just yet as to whether the request was approved. There's also no word on what exactly the Cohens plan to use the additional space for, especially since the estate already has a basketball court, indoor pool, 6,734-square-foot ice skating rink (along with a separate structure to house the Zamboni), and about half a billion dollars in art scattered in every direction. A few photos of Cohen's estate are located here.