• Stocks are down sharply today over concern about the deepening recession. The stimulus package last week? So much for it restoring confidence. [BN, WSJ]
• Need more proof of mismanagement at Citigroup? Chuck Prince was ousted as CEO 15 months ago but he still has an office and secretary at the company. So does John Reed, Citi's former CEO who left nearly nine years ago. [BN]
• The stimulus package that cleared Congress Friday includes hefty new restrictions on bonuses and perks at Wall Street firms. [WSJ]
• GM will file the largest restructuring plan of its 100-year history today. [DB]
• Hedge funds may lose as much as 35% of their assets this quarter. [Reuters]
• Citi is having a hard time finding anyone to buy their junky assets. [NYP]
• Banco Santander, Europe's second largest bank, is offering a generous compensation deal for clients who lost money to Bernie Madoff. [WSJ]

Congress lived the dream today, just straight-up yelling at some bankers. Watch and enjoy the shaming and grandstanding!

• More details about President Obama's plans to limit Wall Street pay are emerging. So is plenty of criticism. "I don't think the president should paint everyone with the same brush," says JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon. [BN, WSJ, BN]
• Wells Fargo has scrapped plans to host a employee conference in Las Vegas after the bank was pummeled with criticism. [WSJ]
• A dozen top bankers from Merrill-BofA have defected to Deutsche Bank. [TD]
• Lazard's fourth-quarter profits dropped by 50 percent. [DB]
• Daniel Och is doubling down on his hedge fund, Och-Ziff. [WSJ]
• Both Citigroup and the Mets say they're standing by their stadium plan. [NYP]
• Bloomberg LP is laying off staff. [Clusterstock]
• The House will hear testimony about Bernie Madoff today from Harry Markopolos, the investigator who tried to blow the whistle on him. [NYT]

Don't expect to see a smile on Vikram Pandit's face in the hallways of Citigroup today. President Obama will announce later this morning that he's imposing a cap of $500,000 on the compensation of top executives at companies that receive a large amount of bailout money. The new rules will also require greater transparency on the use of corporate jets, splashy parties, office renovations and conferences. [Reuters, NYT]

• The chief executives of nine Wall Street banks have been "summoned" to Washington to testify before Congress next week. [BN]
• UBS has held talks with Wachovia about combining their wealth management units; this comes amid the news UBS tried to sell its brokerage unit to Morgan Stanley late last year. [NYP, Reuters]
• After repeatedly saying it wasn't a possibility, Citigroup is now contemplating backing out of the $400 million deal to name the Mets' new stadium. [WSJ]
• Under pressure to boost lending, Citigroup says it will spend $36.5 billion to issue new mortgages and make credit card loans. [AP]
• Credit Suisse is cutting bonuses by 55%. [BN]
• What's BofA been doing with its bailout cash? Hosting parties. [ABC News]

Looks like Citigroup's attorneys at Skadden Arps have some more work to do! Last week, the bank slapped Brooklyn's All Citi pawn shop with a lawsuit for allegedly infringing on its trademark. But a reader points out that All Citi isn't the only pawnbroker using the "renowned" Citi name. There's also Citi-Pawn in Davie, Florida. If you work at Skadden and you bump into Ken Plevan in the hallway, please pass along the word. [Previously]

You'd think Citigroup would have bigger things to worry about these days than paying $1,000-an-hour lawyers to face off against a rinky-dink pawn shop in Brooklyn. Think again. Last week, the banking giant filed suit against All Citi Pawn on Neptune Avenue in Brooklyn for ripping off the bank's name and logo. In court papers, Skadden Arps' Ken Plevan, argued that the pawn shop is "tarnishing the extraordinary reputation of Citi," which he (rather generously) described as "one of the largest and most renowned banking and financial services institutions in the world." The bank is now suing All Citi for trademark infringement, dilution, false designation of origin, and unfair competition. But can a business that is profitable (which we're guessing the pawn shop is) really "dilute the value" of Citigroup when it's the bank—and not the pawn shop—that has reported record losses and had to rely on a government bailout to stay afloat?

• President Obama is expected to push for tight restrictions on executive compensation in order to improve public perception of the bailout. [WSJ]
• A group of angry Bank of America shareholders will demand that Ken Lewis get the boot at the bank's upcoming annual meeting. [NYP]
• Lehman Brothers is still hiring people to help wind down the firm. And it's receiving a ton of resumes from out-of-work Wall Streeters. [WSJ]
• Weill-gate continues: Now it turns out Sandy Weill used a Citi jet to go on a Mexican vacation, although he may reimburse Citi for some expenses. [NYP]
• Deutsche Bank plans to cut bonuses by an average of 60 percent. [BN]
• Fortune explains why Merrill had such a disastrous fourth quarter. [Fortune]
• Consumer spending fell in December for a sixth consecutive month. [BN]

Two weeks ago, we pointed out one of the most ridiculous things that embattled Citigroup was spending money on as the bank struggled to remain solvent: the collection of fantastic perks being doled out to Sandy Weill, the company's former chairman and chief executive, a retirement package that included trips on the Citi jet, a full-time car and driver, and a 10-year lease on office space in the GM building. Today we take our hat off to Weill: The Post reports that he's given it all up. The company announced yesterday that Citi and Weill "mutually agreed to end those benefits in April 2009." [NYP]

Citigroup created a storm of controversy earlier this week when it was revealed that the ailing bank planned to go ahead with the purchase of a $50 million corporate jet. It looks like the public reaction—which included a condemnation from President Obama and members of Congress—and the bank's decision to abandon the deal are being heard loud and clear across corporate America. We can report that Starbucks, which faced harsh criticism two weeks ago after it was revealed that the coffee giant had purchased a $45 million Gulfstream 550, is now looking to sell the plane, less than a month after taking delivery of the aircraft.

• Wells Fargo reported a $2.55 billion loss for the fourth quarter; it also said recently acquired Wachovia lost $11 billion during the period. [BN, WSJ]
• Steve Schwarzman says it's a "wonderful time" for the industry, despite the fact his net worth has dropped by $7 billion in recent months. [BN]
• Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed former Merrill chief John Thain. [WSJ]
• Wall Street bonuses dropped 44% in 2008. [BN]
• Bank of America's board of directors is now feeling the heat. [NYT]
• It was Tim Geithner who convinced Citi to scrap plans to buy a new jet. [FT]
• Lunch with T. Boone Pickens: now up for auction on Ebay. [DB]

• Tim Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary last night. William Dudley is expected to take over for Geithner at the New York Fed. [BN, NYT, WSJ]
• Nomura announced a quarterly loss of $3.8 billion yesterday. [DB]
• Barclays says it plans to write down an additional $11 billion for 2008. [NYT]
• Tremont, the hedge fund that invested in Madoff, may shut down soon. [NYP]
• Vikram Pandit has hinted that Citi may abandon plans to buy a new jet. [CS]
• John Paulson is continuing to rake in lots of money. [BN]
• 78,000 people were laid off by public companies yesterday. [NYP]
• Stan O'Neal? He's a lousy tipper, just so you know. [NYP]

When we first broke the news last month that Citigroup was selling off two of its jets, we thought the bank was looking to cut costs as it spiraled towards bankruptcy. Apparently not! The Post reported this morning that the bank is plunking down $50 million on a brand-new Dassault Falcon 7X. The decision to purchase the plane was reportedly made two years ago, although Citi still intends to take possession of it—assuming, that is, politicians in Washington don't come up with a way to scuttle the deal. (Senator Carl Levin said this afternoon that he plans to lobby the Treasury Department to "stop this absurdity from occurring.") The good news is that if the sale does go through, when Pandit is eventually fired and Citigroup is nationalized, we'll all be entitled to free trips, right?

The rich financiers who brought the world economy to its knees: they're acting up! Lehman's failed chief is pulling shady real estate deals. Citigroup is wantonly buying expensive things. Let's jeer them, collectively!

• More on John Thain's ignominious departure from BofA. [WSJ, BN, NYT]
• Mary Schapiro was approved by the Senate to head the SEC. [DB]
• Citi is remaking its board and is ousting Ken Derr and Franklin Thomas. [FT]
• Some investment bankers are keeping busy: Pfizer is in talks to acquire Wyeth in a deal that could be valued at more than $60 billion. [WSJ, BN]
• Wesley Edens' Fortress is returning cash to investors. [WSJ]
• Marc Dreier will need to post a $20 million bond to walk out of prison. [NYT]
• Job cuts in UBS's investment banking division come next month. [AP]
• Rumor has it additional layoffs at Goldman are coming, too. [Dealbreaker]

• UBS will make a fourth round of job cuts and is closing several divisions. [BN]
• A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Bank of America for failing to disclose the risks associated with the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. [Reuters]
• More BoA-Merrill trouble: It seems the bank accelerated bonus payments last month so it could hand out the cash before the bank changed hands. [FT]
• The SEC has filed charges against missing hedge funder Arthur Nadal. [NYP]
• Win Bischoff's goodbye email to Citigroup employees. [Deal Journal]
• A record $152 billion was pulled from hedge funds in the fourth quarter. [DB]
• In other bad news, Microsoft is cutting 5,000, Intel is laying off 6,000, and Sony says it lost $2 billion more than expected last year. [WSJ, CNN, BN]

What happens when your plan to run for mayor is disrupted by a change to term limit laws, and then the other job you really wanted—a sweet cabinet postion in the Obama administration—doesn't pan out? You take over as Citigroup's new chairman, of course! The beleaguered bank announced this afternoon that Dick Parsons will take over for Win Bischoff as Citi's chair on February 23rd—assuming, of course, that the bank is still in existence by then. The good news for Citigroup shareholders? Given the bank doesn't have any money and no one is particularly interested in buying it, it's unlikely Parsons will preside over another disastrous $182 billion merger, only to dismantle it a few years later.

Citigroup reported $18 billion in losses 2008, has fired some 60,000 employees in recent months, and is currently in the process of dismantling the financial services giant. Earlier this week, the bank announced plans to sell a majority stake in Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley. Today, it revealed plans to divide the bank into two pieces. One person on the sidelines watching his legacy unravel: Sandy Weill, Citigroup's former chairman and chief executive, who built Citi into a sprawling empire based on the belief that "financial supermarkets" represented the future of banking. Except Weill is not on the sidelines, exactly. As Citigroup has unraveled these past few months and hovered on the brink of collapse, Weill has been watching the carnage unfold from one of the most spectacular offices in New York. Offices that Citigroup continues to pay for.

• Bank of America landed $20 billion in additional aid to help it absorb Merrill Lynch. It also posted a loss of $1.79 billion for the fourth quarter. [NYT, WSJ]
• Citigroup reported an $8.29 billion quarterly loss. The beleaguered bank also said it plans to reorganize the company into two business units. [WSJ, NYT]
• UBS is selling parts of its commodities business to Barclays. [FT]
• AIG is paying a total of $619 million to retain employees. [NYP]
• Morgan Stanley and Citi are pulling clients' money from a fund run by Union Bancaire Privée, after it was exposed to Bernie Madoff. [DB]
• Citi is hiring! And you thought it was only laying people off these days. [NYP]

• JPMorgan Chase posted a 76% drop in profits in the fourth quarter, results that chief Jamie Dimon eloquently described as "very disappointing." [WSJ]
• Washington is close to finalizing a deal to give Bank of America billions in extra cash to help it "digest" the purchase of Merrill Lynch. [Reuters]
• What's Morgan Stanley doing with its bailout cash? It's buying an oil supertanker, which is what we'd do, too, if someone gave us $10 billion. [BN]
• An exec at Blackstone has been charged with insider trading. [CNN]
• Carl Icahn is suing fellow activist investor Warren Lichtenstein. [DB]
• The Dow dropped 248 points yesterday with Citigroup taking a particular beating, shedding 23 percent. But that doesn't mean Vikram Pandit isn't doing his best to keep morale up. [NYP, WSJ]