Sanford Weill, the former chairman of Citigroup, bought a 6,437-square foot apartment at ultra-luxury building 15 Central Park West for over $43 million in 2007. Now, he's selling the full-floor home, which has sweeping views of the park, for $88 million. He tells the Wall Street Journal that he and his wife "don't need as big an apartment as we did. We are downsizing a little bit." Also, right now is "a pretty good time" for the 1% "to be quiet"—and he's going to donate the proceeds of the apartment sale to charity. more ›

Yesterday federal prosecutors announced they had arrested 35-year-old ex-Citigroup VP Gary Foster for embezzling $19.2 million from the bank into his personal accounts (at Chase, natch). And now we're getting to hear all the fun details about what Foster, who until January earned $100,000 annually as an assistant V.P. in the bank's treasury finance department, spent his stolen bucks on. Like that Maserati GranTurismo and BMW 550i he bought, and the chauffeur to drive him around in because he is legally blind. more ›

According to federal prosecutors, former Citigroup Vice President Gary Foster "used his knowledge of bank operations to commit the ultimate inside job." While at the bank Foster, 35, allegedly used his knowledge to embezzle $19.2 million into a personal bank account in a series of secret money transfers. more ›

Federal prosecutors have charged four men with stealing $1.5 million from various bank accounts after installing recording technology and other devices at ATMs in Midtown, Chelsea and across from the United Nations as well as in Miami and Chicago. Mihail Draghici, Ionel Dedulescu, Didi Theodor Ciulei and Laurentiu Mugurel Manta were hit with multiple charges, including bank fraud; the Dow Jones News Service reports, "The former two were arrested in Miami December as they tried to board an international flight... The latter two were arrested last month in Chicago." more ›

Ben Stein is a lawyer, a former Nixon speechwriter, a sarcastic Obama appreciator and, yes, Ferris Bueller attendance taker. But that's no match for a woman who felt his jokes at a Dallas private equity conference were sexist—and therefore demanded that Citigroup ditch Stein as keynote speaker for the banking giant's conference. And guess what—Citigroup agreed, "We have decided to present the conference without Mr. Stein’s participation." Yeah, probably doesn't help to have possibly sexist jokes dropped while Citigroup is dealing with a gender discrimination lawsuit. more ›

In what seems to be part of a trend of awkward, possibly offensive corporate cafeteria menus, Citigroup is the latest company to raise some eyebrows with its staff Black History Month meal. Last year, ?uestlove of The Roots raised questions about a Black History Month meal in the NBC cafeteria, which featured fried chicken, collard greens, corn bread, black eyed peas. The drummer tweeted about it, and the sign announcing the menu was quickly removed. Now it's Citi's turn to backpedal! more ›

Hey, whatever happened to the "Sexy Banker"? You know, the ex-Citigroup employee who looked like "tits on a stick" and gave us nine full days of wonderful summer fluff and filler? Well, she's busy trying to not be famous by turning down television opportunities and an offer from Playboy. As she posed in yet another tight-fitting blazer for the Daily News, Debrahlee Lorenzana told them, "I don't want to be famous. I try to stay away from that." more ›

This morning Debrahlee Lorenzana risked her current job at Chase by appearing on two morning shows to talk about how she was fired from Citigroup because supervisors there can't stand having gorgeous women around. You've seen how she looks, now listen to her talk: more ›

She says she lost her Citigroup job because of her unbearable pulchritude, but it's her big mouth that could cost Debbie Lorenzana her current job at Chase. Lorenzana, who is taking legal action against Citigroup after supervisors allegedly terminated her because they can't tolerate pretty women, has been all over the media since the Village Voice featured her in a cover story last week. Today she's set to appear on Good Morning America and the Today show, but her lawyer claims her bosses at Chase are trying to silence her. more ›

Everybody loves a "controversial" story featuring lots of clickable photos of an attractive woman, so obviously the rest of the local media has jumped on the Village Voice cover story about the Citigroup business banker who says she was fired because her male supervisors found her distracting. There's not much new here that wasn't covered already, but Debbie Lorenzana does give a couple good quotes to the Daily News. "I can't help it that I have curves," she says. "And I'm not going to go eat and gain 50 or 100 pounds because my job wants me to be the same size as everyone else." That's right, we're all a bunch of fat asses. more ›

This week's Village Voice cover story is about a 33-year-old single mom who says she was fired from Citigroup because the guys in the office couldn't handle her hot bod. To accompany the article, the online version features a whopping twenty photos illustrating just makes Debbie Lorenzana such a distracting co-worker. (She doesn't even work in our office and we're having a hard time getting anything done today.) After careful deliberation, we've whittled the photos down to the top seven shots, for reference purposes only and so not as part of some shameless attempt to drive up page views like the Voice. more ›

NY Attorney General—and presumed gubernatorial candidate—Andrew Cuomo is reportedly looking into whether banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Crédit Agricole and Merrill Lynch (now owned by Bank of America) duped credit ratings agencies about mortgage securities. According to an AP source, Cuomo "is trying to figure out if banks provided the agencies with false information in order to get better ratings on the risky securities." more ›

So, that nearly 1,000 point drop in the Dow earlier today? Sure, there are worries about the debt situation in Europe, but the flashback to 2008 could have been due to a trader's error. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Several market watchers said they heard a major firm may have accidentally released an errant program, where a trader accidentally placed an order to sell $16 billion, instead of $16 million, worth of e-minis, the futures contracts tied to equity indexes." more ›

Taking a cue from the undergrads, students of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs are complaining about their graduation keynote speaker. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, who graduated with an M.S. in 1977 and a PhD. in 1986, has inspired rage in students of his year's graduating class. Student Daniel Safran-Hon told the Daily News, "He represents an industry that, even when it was stable and not in crisis, paid itself outrageous salaries." more ›

About two months ago, midtown steakhouse Smith & Wollensky ran an ad saying they would trade stock certificates for food in an attempt to lure business men who got stock bonuses instead of checks. But so far, only two shares of Citigroup stock were used to purchase a cup of creamed spinach soup at the beginning of the deal, according to DNAinfo. Back in February, Citigroup stock averaged about $3.25 a share. C'mon guys, just one little share of Apple stock could get you hooked up with a nice steak dinner! more ›

Another of Mayor Bloomberg's top aides, Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler, will abandon his post to pursue a career in the world of finance, City Hall sources say. The 36-year-old has served eight years, starting as press secretary, but beginning in May he'll be mostly concerned with "public affairs, government relations and investor relations" at Citigroup.The mayor confirmed the departure in a statement, saying Skyler was “Never afraid of telling me what he thinks.” more ›

Now that the NYC recession is almost over (your attitude determines your altitude!!!), the Treasury Dept. has announced plans to begin selling its 7.7 billion shares in Citigroup over the course of the next year. This marks a very positive turn for Citigroup, whose stock prices have been steadily increasing during the first three months of 2010. more ›

Taxpayers still own 7.7 billion Citigroup shares since the government bailed out the bank as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. So as a valued shareholder, you might be interested to know that Citigroup lost $7.77 billion in the fourth-quarter, or 33 cents per share. Citigroup says $6.2 billion of the loss was tied to a $20 billion fourth-quarter repayment on some $45 billion in government bailout money. (The bank also shed 100,000 jobs during the year.) "The environment continues to be challenging," said Chief financial officer John Gerspach in a statement worthy of the Understatement Hall of Fame. more ›

Today, the Wall Street Journal reported, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a computer-security breach targeting Citigroup Inc. that resulted in a theft of tens of millions of dollars by computer hackers who appear linked to a Russian cyber gang, according to government officials." And the attack allegedly focused on Citibank. more ›

When announcing it wanted to leave government oversight by repaying its $20 billion TARP bailout, Citigroup said it would raise the money by selling stock. However, because it sold $17 billion worth at $3.15/share—less than the $3.25/share the government paid for the stock last year—the U.S. Treasury is delaying the sale of its stake. more ›

'Tis the season for somewhat infuriating news: The Washington Post reports, "The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis." more ›

Citigroup has announced that it will return $20 billion that the U.S. government gave it in TARP bailout money last year. According to Bloomberg News, the banking giant "will raise the funds with a sale of $20.5 billion of equity and debt" and "also plans to substitute 'substantial common stock' for cash compensation." Notably, the move from under the government's thumb will also allow the firm to avoid executive pay restrictions. more ›

Main St. v. Wall St.! Some New Yorkers are up in arms upon finding out that Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have received numerous doses of the much-coveted H1N1 vaccine. The two banks each received a several hundred doses for at-risk employees (pregnant women, etc...), but the city's Health Department has had to explain themselves to citizens who believe companies shouldn't get preferential treatment over people waiting in line for the vaccine. "Wall Street banks have already taken so much from us," union official John VanDeventer wrote on the Service Employees International Union website, "But they should not be allowed to take away our health and well-being." more ›

The 2009 Mets will wrap up their season next Sunday and mercifully put an end to a campaign that everyone will try and forget. But, before we bid these Mets goodbye, it’s worth wondering, why did the season fall apart so badly? Sure there were injuries at an amazing rate, but what caused those injuries? Perhaps you could say that the team was cursed? more ›

Hey, hey: The Wall Street Journal reports, "Citigroup Inc. has told about five former top executives that it won't pay them tens of millions of dollars in promised severance payouts, according to people familiar with the matter." While Citi has already paid "more than half of the roughly $100 million it promised to the former executives..company officials recently decided not to proceed with the remaining payments, concluding that they wanted to avoid even the possibility of a public backlash over the money." The U.S. government has aided Citigroup with $50 billion. While the former employees' contracts with Citi require the company to pay out the severances, the WSJ explains, "bank officials essentially are wagering that the former executives will conclude that it would be publicly embarrassing for them to file lawsuits against the struggling, taxpayer-backed company seeking the money." more ›

Citigroup board chairman Richard Parsons really has a full slate. Besides trying to shepherd the troubled financial giant through the economic crisis, the Daily News reports that he "was also wrestling with a personal crisis - how to tell his wife and three children he has fathered a child with another woman." Parsons, 61, and MacDella Cooper, 32, a model, are the parents of a baby girl born last August. They apparently met through her charitable foundation which provides education and food to abandoned and orphaned children in Liberia. Cooper told the News, "My private life is private. I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions." And Parsons, once touted as a possible candidate for Mayor (if Bloomberg didn't get his way with term limits), only said, "This is a private matter, and I prefer not to talk about it at this time." more ›

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that the banks may need to raise more capital based on early results of the government's so-called stress tests of lenders, according to people familiar with the situation." The extra capital would be a "buffer" in case the banks' losses continue to grow. Apparently both banks are trying to develop arguments disputing the findings (for instance, BoA's shortfall is in the billions). The AP points out that, for the Treasury, "the easiest way to bolster bank balance sheets is to convert the government's existing stake from preferred shares — a form of debt — into common shares that carry voting rights." Last week, the federal government said capital needs weren't necessariy a measure of "current solvency or viability of the firm," but worries, coupled with swine flu concerns, have sent stock futures down. more ›

Feel better, American taxpayers: Citigroup, which received $45 billion in bailout money, has reported a first quarter profit of $1.6 billion. However, Dealbook reports, "The earnings were helped by an accounting change that allowed the bank to post a one-time gain of $2.5 billion... Under the rule, companies are allowed to record any declines in the market value of their debt as an unrealized gain." ( You may remember that besides a $20 billion infusion from the government in November, it was only in February when the U.S. increased its stake in Citi to about 36%.) Some analysts are still worried about the financial firm's ability to retain top executives as well as their credit-default swaps. Citi's stock is up in pre-market trading. more ›

After a memo from Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit saying that the company was profitable in 2009 (thus far), the bank's stock is up 27% to...$1.34! But that news is enough to help other bank stocks rally and the Dow is up by about 250 points. Pandit said of Citigroup, which did receive $45 billion in TARP bailout money, "We are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007." But he did add he was disappointed in the company's low stock price. Additionally, the Wall Street Journal reports, "U.S. officials are examining what fresh steps they might need to take to stabilize the [Citigroup] if its problems mount." more ›