• It looks like General Motors will file for bankruptcy on Monday. [WSJ]
• Bill Ackman, the activist investor who's been taking aim at Target for months now, lost his battle to remake the company's board yesterday. [Fortune]
• A group of banks and money managers are now trying to "fend off" some of the new trading rules proposed by the Obama administration. [WSJ]
• The U.S. economy shrank at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the first quarter, which makes it the worst six-month performance in five decades. [BN]

It seems the CIA is looking for unemployed investment bankers and hedge fund managers to put their "intelligence" to work for the good of the nation and track down a few terrorists. Want more info? "Private interviews are set for June 22 at a secret Manhattan location. Don't call, the CIA says, just e-mail your information." The email address to submit your resume isn't listed in the Post article, unfortunately. Presumably you try applying using the CIA's online resume submission form. Although if you're going to be expected to nab a bunch of cunning members of Al Qaeda—and save us all from harm in the process—you should probably be able to dig up an email address, shouldn't you? [NYP]

The CIA is looking to hire a few good former hedge funders and investment bankers to put their "skills" to use on behalf of the USA. But could I-bankers really stand the rigors of the CIA lifestyle? Let's compare:

"Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit weathered almost six hours of grilling from shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting on April 21. He had a lot of explaining to do: The company lost $27.7 billion in 2008 and stayed afloat only with help from a $45 billion government bailout. Even as his bank was floundering, Pandit in 2008 earned $38 million in salary and stock, No. 3 among the best-paid CEOs of the top 50 U.S.-based financial companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In February, Pandit told a congressional committee that, starting in 2009, he would take just $1 in annual salary until the bank is profitable again. 'I get the new reality,' he said." Clearly! [Bloomberg]

• 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]

More than 1,000 hedge fund managers gathered at Lincoln Center today for the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference, an event that raises money for charity as well as gives other members of the industry a chance to gleam investment recommendations from some of the brightest financial geniuses around. (Those who paid the $3,000-per-person fee this year were treated to talks by the likes of Jim Chanos, Mark Kingdon, Stephen Mandel, Peter Schiff, and Peter Thiel.) Last year's conference was a particularly dramatic affair. David Einhorn, the founder of Greenlight Capital, used the event as an opportunity to explain why Lehman Brothers was headed off a cliff. Those who heeded Einhorn's advice did well for themselves, of course: The bank went bust just four months later. Einhorn spoke at the annual confab once again today, although it's too soon to know if the poker-loving hedge fund manager took aim at another financial firm this time around. In the meantime, though, Einhorn's lawyers seem to have done just that. They've been busy trying to crush the other Greenlight Capital.

• Following a similar move by Morgan Stanley last week, Citigroup and Bank of America are raising base salaries for bankers. It's designed to make up for the new limits on annual bonuses (and won't make up for the difference, by any means), so don't expect shouts of joy at either bank today. [WSJ]
• Bank of America has scraped together another $5.9 billion, which means it's now 76 percent of the way toward filling its $33.9 billion capital hole. [WSJ]
• New York State Controller Thomas DiNapoli is cutting ties with 10 hedge fund managers as part of the state's pension corruption investigation. [DB]

Wall Street looks nothing like it did a year ago, of course, but here's a sign that things may be even more desperate than previously imagined: Some hedge funders are offering to work for free. Why would people accustomed to earning seven-figure annual incomes in the past stoop to this? For one thing, lying to your wife and telling her you have "meetings" to go to and then spending the afternoon playing online poker at a Starbucks in Midtown gets old after awhile. And working for free might just lead to a real job in the future. That's the thinking, at least:

Don Drapkin was once one of Ron Perelman's closest associates. A former lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Drapkin spent 20 years working for Perelman's holding company MacAndrews & Forbes as his chief dealmaker and "strategic thinker." He was so close to Perelman, in fact, that the billionaire mogul once likened him to a brother. Until, that is, Drapkin jumped ship in 2007 and joined Lazard as the firm's vice chairman at the invitation of Lazard chief Bruce Wasserstein. The split seemed uncharacteristically amicable at the time—Perelman announced that Drapkin had "done a terrific job," and he'd "miss him." But the relationship seems to have taken a turn for the worse since then. Perelman just hit Drapkin with a lawsuit.

Yesterday it was revealed that former Lehman chief Dick Fuld had stepped down as the bankrupt firm's chairman. Now another symbol of the economic collapse is heading off into the sunset. Ed Liddy, the chairman and CEO of AIG, has announced plans to step down from the scandal-plagued insurance giant, although he may be there for a while considering he plans to remain here until the company comes up with a suitable replacement. The good news? There is now a little bit of light at the end of Liddy's dark tunnel, and he should have a chance to trade the self-tanning mist in his office for some real sun in the near future. [NYT]

• New jobless claims are down, but a record number of people are collecting unemployment, which won't be good news for the markets today. [BN, WSJ]
• Bank of America is hoping to pay back the $45 billion in bailout money by the end of the year. And it looks like they might actually be able to do it. [DB, WSJ]
• Speaking of taxpayer money, GMAC is getting $7 billion of it. [WSJ]
• Hedge funds are back: They raked in $15.4 billion in April. [BN]
• The Justice Dep't is looking into shady behavior at Lehman circa '07. [WSJ]
• Britain's Serious Fraud Office is building a "warning system to help it spot hedge fund fraud." But only serious hedge fund fraud, obviously. [Reuters]

No wonder the economy is in such trouble: "A trader who returned from a three-hour lunch involving alcohol and racked up big positions in oil futures, and then concealed the trades from employer Morgan Stanley, has the bank at the center of the second such scandal in the space of a week." [WSJ]

Former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld has officially stepped down as the bankrupt firm's "chairman," per a letter delivered last week to Bryan Marsal, the restructuring pro who assumed control of Lehman last fall. Finding someone to vastly overpay for a Park Avenue apartment isn't exactly part-time work, you know. [NYT/Dealbook]

• Bank of America raised another $13.47 billion last night. [Reuters]
• How are banks making money these days? They're taking out life-insurance policies on their workers, with themselves listed as beneficiaries. [WSJ]
• The Obama administration may strip the SEC of some of its powers. [BN]

• Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley have applied to refund a total of $45 billion of bailout money. The government now has to decide whether to take the cash and run the risk of upsetting less fortunate banks who can't afford to repay their bailout money. [BN, DB]
• Money management giant Blackrock has its hand in just about everything these days, which is why lots of people are asking questions. [NYT, WSJ]
• Eight months after Lehman Brothers went down and lawyers are raising questions about the "rushed sale" of its capital markets unit to Barclays. [DB]
• American Express says it plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs. [NYT]
• Builders broke ground on the fewest homes on record in April. Housing starts dropped 12.8%, although Wall Street had been predicting an increase. [BN]
• Tim Geithner says he doesn't want to institute pay caps. He just wants to curb aggressive risk-taking. Of course, if you can't take risk, you can't make a lot of money, so we're right back where we started, aren't we? [NYT]

• The market is kicking off the week on a positive note. [CNN, WSJ]
• The investigation into Bernie Madoff's scheme is now focused on some of his biggest investors: Jeffry Picower, Stanley Chais, and Carl Shapiro. [WSJ]
• Bradley Ruderman, the founder of LA-based Ruderman Capital Partners, has been arrested and is charged with bilking investors out of $44 million. [DB]
• Steve Rattner is making waves again, although it has nothing to do with the unfolding pension fund scandal. It's his construction of a $15 million summer home on Martha's Vineyard that is now angering neighbors. [P6]

In January of 2008 a disgruntled Merrill Lynch employee, outraged over his bonus, took a crap on the floor, stomped in it, and proceeded to track it around the office. Now it's apparently happened again.

The website selling these "Financial Crisis Cards" say the decks come with just two jokers, but we have a feeling there are a few more of them in the mix. Bring them to your next bridge game at the Palm Beach Country Club and you'll have what will certainly be an instant crowd-pleaser. Or you could buy one now and rest assured you'll have the perfect gift for when former Bear Stearns chief (and bridge champion!) Jimmy Cayne's birthday rolls around next February. [Financial Crisis Cards via Dealbreaker]

So far the possible financial saviors of the New York Times are a shady Mexican billionaire, a shady Hollywood billionaire, and a plan to give free t-shirts to anyone who donates. Anyone see a problem?

• The Carlyle Group will pay $20 million to end an investigation by Andrew Cuomo into its dealings with pensions and placement agents. [NYT, WSJ]
• Two attorneys at the SEC are under investigation for insider trading. [CBS]
• Hedge fund manager Jim Simons is facing tough questions from angry investors who put money into one of Simons' under-performing funds. [WSJ]
• Barclays is in talks to sell its Barclays Global Investors. Blackrock and Bank of New York Mellon are two of the bidders. [BN, Reuters]
• Six major insurance companies are getting a bailout. [BN, NYT]