Week in Review: Wall Street\'s Friend Atop the S.E.C.

Federal authorities are investigating firms hired to help banks clean up misdeeds like foreclosure abuses. | Battling big beer. | The renewable energy industries are pushing for more financing options. | MF Global’s bankruptcy is near a happy conclusion. | Under fire, Chesapeake Energy’s co-founder is to depart. | Andrew Ross Sorkin says that Mary Jo White’s work for Wall Street is a problem. | Beneath the calm, SAC Capital worked to contain the fallout from an inquiry.

A look back on our reporting of the past week’s highs and lows in finance.

HSBC Completes Sale of $9.4 Billion Ping An Stake | The British bank sold its entire 15.6 percent stake to the Charoen Pokphand Group of Thailand, despite previous concerns about the buyer’s financing, David Barboza reported. DealBook Â'

Under Fire, Chesapeake Co-Founder Is to Depart | Abrey K. McClendon’s retirement comes as the national boom in natural gas drilling is fading, diminishing Chesapeake’s prospects, Clifford Krauss and Michael J. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Buffett Said to Have Weighed NYSE Euronext | Warren E. Buffett, the celebrated value investor, ultimately did not try to outbid IntercontinentalExchange’s $8.2 billion proposal, Mr. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Capital One Hires Centerview Executive as Finance Chief | Stephen S. Crawford was a top executive of the boutique investment bank Centerview Partners, Mr. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Amid Bank’s Legal Problems, Barclay! s C.E.O. Gives Up Bonus | Antony P. Jenkins said that he would not accept a bonus as the British bank struggles to rebuild its reputation after a series of recent scandals, Mark Scott an Julia Werdigier reported. DealBook Â'

Morgan Stanley’s Chief Gets a Base Salary Raise | James P. Gorman’s overall pay package for 2012 was $9.75 million, down 7 percent from 2011, Susanne Craig reported. DealBook Â'

Deutsche Bank Reports Surprise $3 Billion Loss | The bank’s fourth-quarter loss reflected efforts to clear its books of bad assets and set aside more than $1 billion to cover legal proceedings and investigations, Jack Ewing reported. DealBook Â'

p>Chief of the Jefferies Group Earned $19 Million in 2012 | Richard B. Handler was one of the better-paid chief executives on Wall Street in 2012, as the firm put a difficult period behind it, William Alden reported. DealBook Â'

Blackstone Profit Soars 43% in Good Sign for Equity Firms | The Blackstone Group said on Thursday that it had earned about $670 million in the fourth quarter, as almost all of its businesses showed gains, Mr. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Beneath the Calm, SAC Works to Contain Fallout From an Inquiry | As federal authorities continue to press an insider trading investigation, Peter Lattman reported, SAC Capital Advisors, owned by Steven A. Cohen, is working to retain clients and staff members. DealBook Â'

Pfizer Spins Off Its Animal Health Unit in a $2.2 Billion I.P.O. | The Pfizer division, known as Zoetis, priced its stock at $26 a share in an initial public offering that values the company at about $13 billion, Mr. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Dutch Government Takes Control of SNS Reaal | The Dutch government took control of one of the country’s biggest financial institutions after the troubled company failed to find a private-sector buyer, David Jolly and Mr. Ewing reported. DealBook Â'

Doubt Is Cast on Firms Hired to Help Banks | Federal authorities are scrutinizing private consultants paid billions of dollars to clean up financial misdeeds likeforeclosure abuses, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess reported. DealBook Â'

Ex-Peregrine Chief Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison | Russell Wasendorf Sr. was sentenced for embezzling from his now-defunct brokerage firm’s clients and defrauding banks over nearly two decades, Mr. Lattman and David K. Henderson reported. DealBook Â'

Justice Dept. Sues to Block Anheuser’s Deal for Modelo | The lawsuit is the first major roadblock in a decade of consolidation by brewers around the world, which has mostly reduced the industry to a few multinationals, Mr. de la Merced reported. DealBook Â'

Galleon Figure Gets One Year in Prison! | Roomy ! Khan, a central figure in the investigation that led to the conviction of the hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, illegally disclosed inside information and obstructed justice, Mr. Alden reported. DealBook Â'

Renewable Energy Industries Push for More Financing Options | With government approval, investment structures more commonly used by the oil, gas and real estate industries could make wind and solar companies more appealing to investors, Diane Cardwell reported. DealBook Â'

Prominent U.S. Prosecutor Is Joining the Private Sector | Reed Brodsky, the government lawyer who helped secure the insider trading conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, is expected to join the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Mr. Lattman reported. DealBook Â'

MF Global’s Bankruptcy Near Happy Conclusion | The push to make MF Global customers nearly whole, a goal now surprisingly within reach, is a remarkable turnaround from the brokerage firm, Mr. Protess reported. DealBook Â'

Deal Professor: Lessons for Entrepreneurs in Rubble of a Collapsed Deal | Steven M. Davidoff says that Goldman Sachs’s victory in a legal dispute over its role as the adviser in the sale of Dragon Systems offers some valuable insight for deal makers, like understanding the duties of the banker. DealBook Â'

Top Federal Prosecutor of Corporate Crime Will Resign | As head of the Justice De! partmentâ! €™s criminal division, Lanny A. Breuer led the federal response to corporate crime in the wake of the financial crisis, Mr. Protess reported. DealBook Â'

DealBook Column: Nominee for ‘Sheriff’ Has Worn Banks’ Hat | Andrew Ross Sorkin says that Mary Jo White has made a fine art of the revolving door between government and private practice. DealBook Â'

Ex-Trader for Jefferies Is Charged With Fraud | Federal prosecutors charged Jesse C. Litvak with defrauding his clients â€" and the government â€" while selling them mortgage-backed securities after the financial crisis, Mr. Lattman reported. DealBook Â'

Iceland Wins a European Court Victory in a Bankng Case | A court in Luxembourg upheld Iceland’s refusal to promptly cover the losses of British and Dutch depositors in an online bank, Icesave, that failed in 2008, Andrew Higgins reported. DealBook Â'

Just a Friend | Have you ever met a nominee that you wanted to regulate, but years of recusals she wanted to take Like many financial regulators, Mary Jo White, President Obama’s nominee to lead the S.E.C., has a long history of close ties to Wall Street’s biggest movers like Frist, Kenneth, Siemens and Mack. Forget about that, let’s go into the story.

Biz Markie’s ‘Just a Friend’