FINANCE
• Kevin Dunn, a 28-year-old former MetLife broker, was charged with defrauding a 9/11 widow of a quarter-million dollars from the victim-compensation fund. Nice one, dude. [NYT]
• After rumors that Warren Buffett might take a big stake, James Cayne insists Bear Stearns has put the credit crisis behind them and the bank is not for sale. But after laying off 310 employees, a lawsuit against Bear’s huge losses, and still plenty of tension in the market, you have to wonder if Cayne, the master bridge player, is going for slam when he’s only got a three-spade hand. Snap! [Bloomberg, CNN/Money, Forbes]
• Morgan Stanley and Goldman are pulling away from the pack in the league tables. [WSJ]
MEDIA
• Ron Rosenbaum on GQ editor Jim Nelson’s caving to the Clintons: “Any editor with a backbone would say, ‘Thank you, your crude effort to kill this story will be included in the story. Goodbye.’” [Slate]
• Jann Wenner’s close to picking the next editor for Men’s Health, and the most likely candidate is Ed Felsenthal, an assistant managing editor at the Wall Street Journal and a long-rumored candidate for poaching by Portfolio. [NYP]
• Media reporter Michael Calderone ditched the Observer for Politico. [FishbowlDC/Mediabistro]
LAW
• Mid-level husband-and-wife lawyers Randi and Christopher Collotta were sentenced to six months of house arrest for their role in a big insider-trading scheme. The judge was lenient since Christopher has cancer, and both, as he put it, are at the “bottom of the food chain.” [NYT]
• Bill Lerach, the class-action lawyer who pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks to clients, got a little help in the form of a six-figure book deal, “a morality tale of greed and corruption in the legal and corporate worlds, set against the biggest financial boom in our history.” [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Cravath partner Philip Boeckman gets called out for not having gone to a top-tier school; inferioirty complex blossoms. [Above the Law]
FASHION
• John Galliano is coming for your children. The designer has just inked a five-year deal with Diesel to create kidswear; his first line will be out in January. [British Vogue]
• It’s hard work to put on a fashion show, what with all the hair, makeup, models, music, clothes, and, if you are Stella McCartney, an irrigated backdrop wall of 2,000 plants. [NYT]
• Matteo Marzotto won’t leave Valentino, as previously speculated. He’s been confirmed as president of the Valentino fashion brand, under the Valentino Fashion Group umbrella. [WWD]
