Eric Butler, one of the two former Credit Suisse brokers accused of masterminding a $1 billion securities fraud scheme, was convicted by a federal jury yesterday. (His partner-in-crime, Julian Tzolov, decided to head off to sunny Spain rather than face charges, but has since been caught.) It took jurors just three hours to come down with a verdict for Butler. So quick? "Prosecutors introduced photos of the high-living chums partying in Miami and Europe." Oh, yes, that must have helped. [NYDN, previously]

So much for all those economists who announced last week that the recession was over. After a month of consecutive weekly gains, stocks were once again pounded today with the Dow dropping 186 points, or 2%, as "fear spread around the globe that an economic rebound may be further off than previously thought." But it was fun while it lasted, right? [WSJ, NYT]

Everyone sold off their stock this morning. Everyone, that is, except for people who own shares in health insurers. They're thrilled that Obama's health care plan is being watered down so that it won't include government-run health plans.

Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman Tops Best-Paid Chiefs [Bloomberg]
Steve Schwarzman [Twitter]

It's been a bruising few weeks for Goldman Sachs what with the tough questions about the role the firm played in the mortgage meltdown and subsequent bailout, and any special treatment it may have received from Washington officials like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. But it looks like the firm's lawyers now have one more headache to deal with: the dude in Thailand who is selling unauthorized (and terribly chintzy) Goldman-branded "keychain watches" on Ebay for $9.95 a pop. "Makes a great gift for someone," reads the ad. It doesn't specify who this "someone" is. But if you're looking to give a friend at the firm a way to count down the minutes until his gigantic bonus shows up in his checking account, you probably should make a move before Goldman's lawyers do. [Ebay]

The Wall Street Journal reports that economists are "nearly unanimous" that President Obama should reappoint Ben Bernanke to another term as Federal Reserve chairman. Even better? "[T]he majority of the economists The Wall Street Journal surveyed during the past few days said the recession that began in December 2007 is now over." Now over! Break out that overpriced outfit you purchased during the good ol' days of 2007, reserve a table at the club you last frequented back when you had a job and you could afford to pay $400 for a bottle, and celebrate. Naturally, you can look forward to finding another job any moment now. [WSJ]

Maybe he should have stuck with hockey. Tim Barakett, the founder of Atticus Capital and possibly the only hedge funder in history to turn down an opportunity to play professional hockey to go Harvard Business School, announced today that he's shutting down his flagship fund and handing $3 billion back to his investors. "After 15 years of being singularly focused on building and managing Atticus, I believe it is time to reassess my future," Barakett said in a letter to investors. On a more positive note, you can rest assured Steve Cohen's hockey rink will see a lot more action over the coming months. [WSJ]

So much for Bank of America's sweetheart settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. At a hearing yesterday, Judge Jed Rakoff declined to approve the deal that the bank struck with the SEC a few weeks ago, allowing it to pay a mere $33 million to settle charges that it had failed to disclose Merrill Lynch's plans to pay out billions of dollars in bonuses on the eve of their merger.

The Sunday Styles finally went to Fashion Meets Finance, an event where Manhattan banker-types and fashion slaves meet, consummate, and procreate certain genetics to create lineages of people you'd rather not know. Their findings are, while nothing new, nonetheless awesome.

Is that economic improvement we see? The Labor Department announced today that the unemployment rate dropped from 9.5 percent to 9.4 percent last month—even though analysts had been expecting it to increase—and while 247,000 American jobs were lost during July, that's the fewest number of losses since last August. It this evidence that things are going to be peachy keen from here on out? Not really.

AIG has been a big disaster the last few months, hasn't it? Not if you happen to work for Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, or BlackRock, or any of the other dozen or so banks and law firms expected to rake in as much as $1 billion breaking apart the insurance giant. But at least one firm involved in the process is making it clear that they see this as a civic mission—not just a convenient way to generate fat fees. The law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell has generously offered up a 10 percent discount on its services, so it's only billing the federal government $950 an hour for legal advice. Thanks, guys! [WSJ]

Sheila Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, wasn't sufficiently "glamorous" to earn herself coverage in Vogue recently. But she's making progress! Business Insider's Moe Tkacik reports Bair unveiled a new haircut and color this week when she appeared on Bloomberg TV. Maybe Anna Wintour was watching and has since reconsidered? Let's hope so. [Business Insider, previously]

As if former Lehman chief Dick Fuld wasn't enough of a villain as it is given his role in the investment bank's collapse last fall, it turns out he was a tax cheat, too. The Times reports today that the Bloomberg administration is accusing Lehman of failing to pay the city some $627 million in taxes between 1996 and 2008.

Annie Leibovitz dug herself so deeply into debt that she was forced to mortgage her photographs to a high-end pawn shop to pay off her creditors. Who did she owe money to? None other than Condé Nast, her biggest patron.

If you missed out on the chance to brag to all your friends that you fell victim to a Ponzi scheme targeted to high net-worth individuals, you may still get to see your name appear on a list of really rich people who now find themselves in a world of trouble.

When Goldman Sachs' chief mouthpiece told us a couple of weeks ago that no one at the bank would be permitted to celebrate the firm's blockbuster second quarter, he wasn't kidding. The Post reports today that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, has instructed all employees of the firm "to avoid making big-ticket, high-profile purchases."

Page Six reported yesterday that Steve Schwarzman was spotted living it up in St. Tropez, "staying cool at the VIP Room" while "his wife, Christine, and two blond friends, Michelle Herbert and Gina de Franco, danced together like the Pussycat Dolls." If you took the revelry as a tip off that Schwarzman's Blackstone Group is planning to share good news when the private equity giant releases quarterly earnings on Thursday, you may not have been the only one. Blackstone shares were up 21 percent today, "a surge that one options analyst attributed to investors buying on speculation that upcoming earnings would be better than expected." [Page Six, Reuters]

In this week's issue of New York, Steve Fishman covers the spectacular rise—and spectacular fall—of Steve Rattner, the uber-ambitious financial titan who was tapped to serve as President Obama's car czar but was ultimately forced to leave Washington in shame after he became embroiled in the corruption scandal involving state pension money.

That sure was quick. This morning, the SEC filed suit against Bank of America, accusing it of lying to investors when it announced that newly-acquired Merrill Lynch wouldn't pay out any year-end bonuses. (In fact, Bank of America had already signed off on $5.7 billion in Merrill payouts.) Now the bank has settled the charges—"without admitting or denying the allegations," of course—for a modest $33 million. [NYT]

As your money burned last year and banks groveled for cash, we knew they kept handing out billions of bonus cash. But now we know how just a small few put their snouts to the trough.