“How much should a Wall Street CEO get paid?” The question got bandied around on Thursday night at dinner — by a bunch of Wall Street CEOs. The question was the topic of the day following coverage of the extravagant ways of John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, who spent $1.2 million on his [...]

Every day turns up an astonishing new detail of the incredible story of Bernie Madoff and his $50-billion Ponzi scheme: aside from Obama’s inauguration, New York can talk of little else. And some of the new angles are very odd. It’s just been reported that Bernie’s late mother, Sylvia, herself had stock-trading troubles. In 1963 [...]

Today prosecutors will make their case that Bernard Madoff should be jailed for violation of bail conditions. On Christmas Eve he mailed out trinkets worth more than $1 million to family members. His defense lawyer says Madoff had no idea he was doing anything wrong and that these items were sentimental. Prosecutors argue his act [...]