We reported a few weeks back that Hedge Fund manager John Devaney of United Capital Markets had run into some tough times…having to put his luxury yacht up for sale.  Devaney was seeking $23.5 million for his 142-foot yacht, “Positive Carry”.

We have now learned that Devaney has put his helicopter on the sales block. He is reportedly seeking $10,995,000 for the high-end Sikorsky S76C helicopter. According to the brochure which markets the helicopter to prospective buyers, the reason for the sale was “changing corporate travel requirements.”

Devaney also owns a Rolls-Royce, a Gulfstream Jet, a 12,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Key Biscayne, Florida as well as a few Renoirs and a valuable 1823 reproduction of the Declaration of Independence.

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of elite Wall Street Investment Bank Goldman Sachs, has publicly endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.  Blankfein’s support came a day after Clinton’s opponents said that her business support was actually more of a burden than a blessing.

According to Bloomberg, Barack Obama and John Edwards have portrayed Clinton as an ally of big business as they both attempt to court more liberal voters who cast ballots in primaries.

Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack also backed Clinton earlier this year in April.  Mack’s endorsement was especially interesting given the fact that he was one of President George W. Bush’s biggest fund-raisers.  Mack redirecting his support from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party is yet another sign that President Bush’s poor handling of the War in Iraq will probably lead to a land-slide Democratic Party win in the 2008 election.

Clinton has taken in substantial donations from Wall Streeters  during her time in the Senate.  It is estimated that she received at least $424,545 from the top 10 investment banks in the second quarter for her presidential campaign. [Via Bloomberg].

Rough financial waters have caused United Capital Markets founder John Devaney to put his luxury yacht up for sale.  Devaney is seeking $23.5 million for his 142-foot yacht, “Positive Carry,” according to the New York Post.  Earlier this month, the $620 million hedge fund portfolios he runs were forced to suspend investor withdrawals.

Devaney is also trying to sell a 16-bedroom Aspen, Colorado, property he bought in November for $16.5 million, the paper said.

He also owns a Rolls-Royce, a Gulfstream Jet, a 12,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Key Biscayne, Florida and helicopter, as well as a few Renoirs and a valuable 1823 reproduction of the Declaration of Independence.

Devaney reportedly had $100 million in the troubled funds prior to the turmoil in the asset-backed securities markets his Horizon funds specialize in.

The 36-year-old CEO of United Capital Markets has definitely been living the good life.  Looks like the party’s over…at least for now.

Devaney may finally have to start living like a millionaire instead of a billionaire…I’m sure it will be tough. He might want to contact Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone to take a few items off his hands…I think he’s got some extra cash lying around.

There has been wide-spread speculation that Abigail Johnson, daughter of current Chairman and CEO Edward C. Johnson III would be the favorite to replace her father as the head of Fidelity Investments’ parent company FMR Corp. 

However, in a recent interview with The New York Times, Edward C. Johnson III, the 77-year old chief executive of FMR Corp., said that he may not name his daughter Abigail chief executive of the company.

As a result, speculation about who will lead FMR when “Ned” Johnson steps down has intensified in recent weeks. Nearly two weeks ago, Johnson named a Prudential Financial Inc. executive as the head of Fidelity Investments.

Johnson’s daughter now reports to that former Prudential executive, Rodger Lawson, 60, which would seem to push her further from the chief executive spot.

Ned Johnson told The New York Times in an article published on Sunday, “I would expect the family would continue to play a critical role in leading Fidelity.”

He added, “However, the company does not necessarily have to be run day-to-day by a family member.”

Stephen Bollenbach, the retiring chief executive of Hilton Hotels Corp. stands to get about $125 million upon completion of the company’s sale by private equity firm Blackstone Group.Details of the handsome payout came as Hilton revealed that it faced a dozen lawsuits by shareholders charging its board with breaching its fiduciary duties in agreeing to the $20 billion takeover by Blackstone.

Hilton said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that it considered the payout packages of Bollenbach and other directors and executives in reaching its decision to approve the merger.

The cash-out value of Bollenbach’s vested and unvested stock options are $74.5 million, performance share units $13.3 million, and restricted stock units $2.2 million, according to the filing.

In addition, the Hilton CEO and co-chairman, who plans to retire at the end of the year, also stands to receive $34.7 million under a deferred compensation plan, the filing says. Under the merger agreement, Bollenbach and others get to cash out when the merger closes rather than when the instruments vest.

In the same filing, Hilton said 12 lawsuits had been filed against the company and its directors in various state and federal courts in California and Delaware.

The New York Post reports that profits tumbled yesterday for the nation’s largest home mortgage firm - Countrywide Financial - even as its chief Angelo Mozilo was quietly cashing out a $118.2 million options windfall ahead of its new troubles.The company reported a 33 percent drop in profits, and expects deep losses across the industry in the wake of housing’s thundering crash that’s sending cracks this summer throughout the financial services landscape.

Mozilo, the 68-year-old co-founder, told analysts the housing climate is so bad it will force the 10 giant mortgage firms like his to consolidate or perish.  “I think we’ll get to five,” Mozilo said while discussing Countrywide’s second-quarter earnings bomb, its third-straight quarterly loss.

Countrywide’s stock slid 13 percent to a new low of $29.50 before recovering to close at $30.50, off $3.56, or 10.5 percent. Shares are down 28 percent this year.

Mozilo began cashing out his huge pot of options when cracks in the housing bubble first appeared in December among slow-paying homebuyers, a dangerous red flag. These weak, subprime loans eventually would undermine a $1 trillion pool of risky and sometimes fraudulently engineered mortgages and derivatives. Countrywide hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, and Mozilo’s insider stock sales were disclosed in regulatory filings.

Filings showed that he typically netted about $4 million a week on his options sales since December. In the two weeks ahead of yesterday’s earnings news, Mozilo had cashed in 442,000 options for a profit of $11.09 million, including a $1.7 million gain on 70,000 options he redeemed on the eve of the earnings release.

Source: [NYPost.com]