“Before he served as a United States senator, before he made a run at the presidency and before his political career collapsed amid a sex scandal and fraud trial, John Edwards was a trial lawyer,†Peter Lattman and Kim Severson write in DealBook. “Now, Mr. Edwards is returning to his roots and opening a new law practice. The plaintiffs’ firm, Edwards Kirby, reunites him with his former partner, David F. Kirby, and includes on its payroll his eldest daughter, Cate Edwards.â€
“The reason we formed this firm is because we all believe in the same thing â€" in standing up for the disenfranchised and those who need an equal chance,†Mr. Edwards said in a telephone interview from his offices in Raleigh, N.C. “That’s why we exist.â€
U.S. POISED TO ANNOUNCE $13 BILLION JPMORGAN DEAL  | The Justice Department is set to announce the final details of a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase over the bank’s questionable mortgage practices in the run-up to the financial crisis, Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg report in DealBook. The announcement is expected as soon as Tuesday.
Under the settlement, people briefed on the deal said, JPMorgan will have to hire an independent monitor to oversee the distribution of $4 billion in relief for struggling homeowners â€" a black mark for a bank once considered one of Wall Street’s most trusted institutions. The settlement, coming after months of negotiations, will resolve an array of state and federal investigations into the bank’s sale of troubled mortgage securities to investors.
Nearly half of the $4 billion in consumer relief will go to reducing the balance of mortgages in foreclosure-racked areas, one person briefed on the deal said. JPMorgan will also be credited with up to $500 million for briefly halting the collection of mortgage payments. For the remaining $2 billion in relief, the person said, the bank has agreed to reduce interest rates on existing loans, offer new loans to low-income home buyers and keep those loans on its books.
DROPBOX IS SAID TO SEEK $8 BILLION VALUATION  | Dropbox, a five-year-old San Francisco start-up that allows users to access stored documents via the web, is seeking $250 million in financing in a round that would value it at more than $8 billion, Quentin Hardy and David Gelles report in DealBook. If successful, such a fund-raising round would more than double the company’s valuation, underscoring how online storage is suddenly a hot commodity in Silicon Valley.
Mr. Hardy and Mr. Gelles write: “Dropbox is just the latest young technology company to seek a sky-high valuation. Last week, it was revealed that Snapchat, a photo-sharing application with no revenue, turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook. Twitter is valued at more than $22 billion after a week and a half of trading. Box, another online storage company that competes with Dropbox, is valued at more than $1 billion and is looking to conduct its initial public offering next year. And Pinterest, a bookmarking service, recently raised $225 million at a valuation of $3.8 billion.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, speaks at the annual dinner of the National Economists Club in Washington. Best Buy, Home Depot and Saks report earnings before the market opens. Laurence D. Fink, the chief executive of BlackRock, is on Bloomberg TV at 11 a.m.
A CONFLICT IN GEITHNER’S NEW JOB? NOT REALLY  | “Within 24 hours of Timothy F. Geithner’s announcement on Saturday that he would join Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm, a parade of naysayers emerged, almost like clockwork, to criticize the former Treasury secretary’s move as a prime example of the evil of the government’s revolving door,†Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the DealBook column. “While there’s nothing good about the ‘revolving door’ between Washington and Wall Street, there’s something quite odd about the developing narrative about Mr. Geithner’s move, because it is hard to argue Mr. Geithner ever spun through the revolving door even once.
“Maybe this is splitting hairs, but Warburg Pincus, a relatively obscure yet well-respected private equity firm has little to do with the big institutions Mr. Geithner once oversaw. Had Mr. Geithner gone to a large bank like Goldman Sachs, there would rightly be a steady stream of negative headlines, as there would be had he gone to BlackRock, one of the largest buyers of United States Treasuries.â€
BROADER POOL OF MADOFF VICTIMS TO BENEFIT FROM FUND  | “The largest category of victims in the vast Ponzi scheme run by Bernard L. Madoff â€" those who lost cash through accounts with various middleman funds â€" will be first in line for compensation from a $2.35 billion fund collected by the Justice Department,†Diana B. Henriques reports in DealBook.
“These so-called indirect investors represent about 70 percent of all the claims filed after Mr. Madoff’s arrest in December 2008, and about 85 percent of the claims for out-of-pocket cash losses. But because they were not formal customers of Mr. Madoff’s brokerage firm, they are not eligible to recover anything from the federal bankruptcy court, where the Madoff trustee has so far collected $9 billion to apply toward eligible claims.â€
Dutch Firm to Spin Off Drug-Making Business in $2.6 Billion Deal  | Royal DSM, the Dutch life and materials sciences company, said on Tuesday that it would form a joint venture with the New York private equity firm JLL Partners. DealBook »
Euronext Is Said to Attract Suitors  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “Three exchange companies are considering individual bids for Euronext, the European exchange group set to be spun off after it was acquired last week by IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc., according to people familiar with the discussions.†WALL STREET JOURNAL
Upheaval at the Highest Levels of Hollywood  | “Even as the movie awards season accelerates here, studio chiefs and major producers have been fretting less about Oscars than about job security,†Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes report from Los Angeles for The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Exxon to Sell Stakes in Hong Kong Power Firms  | Exxon Mobil is selling majority stakes in a Hong Kong utility and a power storage firm for a combined $3.4 billion, Reuters reports. REUTERS
Advent International to Take Dutch Firm Private for $1.58 Billion  | The private equity firm Advent International has reached a deal to take private Unit4, a software provider based in the Netherlands. DealBook »
CareFusion to Buy General Electric Unit for $500 Million  | The deal for the vital signs division of G.E.’s health care arm will expand CareFusion’s offerings in respiratory treatments and anesthesiology. It will also grow the company’s operations outside the United States, and is expected to start significantly adding to earnings per share in the 2015 fiscal year. News Release
New Market Benchmarks Show a Lack of Options  | A consensus of professional strategists became convinced months ago that compared with bonds, stocks were a good bet. News Analysis »
Tracking the Dow, Adjusted for Inflation  | “The Dow Jones industrial average broke through 16,000 on Monday for the first time on record â€" well, at least in nominal terms. If you adjust for inflation, technically the highest level was on Jan. 14, 2000,†Catherine Rampell writes in the Economix blog in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Chinese Banks Are Forced to Delay Bond Deals  | The Financial Times reports: “China Development Bank and fellow state policy lender Agricultural Development Bank of China have had to delay or dramatically reduce Chinese bond issues as the impact of a tight onshore credit market begins to be felt.†FINANCIAL TIMES
Bartiromo to Leave CNBC for Fox Business  | Maria Bartiromo, the anchor of CNBC’s “Closing Bell,†will join the Fox Business Network and Fox News next week, Bill Carter reports in The New York Times. DealBook »
Bloomberg News Lays Off Staff in Sports and Culture  | The staff changes sought to “emphasize areas that promote growth and focus more on core subjects like finance and government,†The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Blackstone’s Chairman in China Is Said to Be Leaving  | Antony Leung, the Blackstone Group’s chairman for the greater China region, “is stepping down to become Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd.’s chief executive officer after seven years at the U.S. asset management firm,†Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
How K.K.R. Approaches Real Estate  | In an interview with PrivcapRE, Ralph F. Rosenberg, the head of K.K.R.’s real estate platform, said that investors “lose a little bit of intellectual integrity†if they think real estate carries as little risk as Treasury debt. PRIVCAPRE
Sony Entertainment Is Said to Hire Bain & Company for Cost-Cutting  | Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Entertainment, has worked to speed up cost-cutting efforts since the company came under strong criticism in the spring from the activist investor Daniel S. Loeb, Brooks Barnes reports in The New York Times. DealBook »
JPMorgan Is Said to Withdraw From Chinese Bank I.P.O. Â |Â JPMorgan Chase has withdrawn from underwriting the Hong Kong initial public offering of the lender China Everbright Bank, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people with direct knowledge of the deal. WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Note of Skepticism on Some Internet Stocks  | In its latest monthly equities update, the mutual fund firm Janus Capital wrote about cloud computing and social media companies: “Valuations for many of these companies seem just as stretched as Internet stocks were back then,†in the dot-com era. WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Partner Leaves Khosla Ventures  | “Shirish Sathaye has quietly stepped down as a general partner with Khosla Ventures,†Fortune reports. FORTUNE
Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree  | Federal officials told a Senate hearing that virtual currencies like bitcoin offered real benefits for the financial system. DealBook »
Obama’s First-Term Finance Team: Where Are They Now?  | Some of the top financial government officials appointed in the Obama administration’s first term have moved into the private sector, while others are taking on new posts in Washington. DealBook »
Google to Pay $17 Million to Resolve Privacy Case  | “Google agreed on Monday to pay $17 million to 37 states and the District of Columbia in a wide-reaching settlement over tracking consumers online without their knowledge,†The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
MF Global Is Ordered to Pay $1.2 Billion  | A federal court in New York ordered MF Global to pay $1.2 billion in restitution to customers of the failed brokerage firm. The firm will also pay a $100 million civil penalty. The restitution and the fine had been anticipated, The Wall Street Journal notes. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Top Restructuring Lawyer Joins Morrison & Foerster  | Morrison & Foerster says Howard Morris, a former co-chief executive of SNR Denton, is joining the law firm as head of the bankruptcy and restructuring group in London. DealBook »
A Hurdle to Winding Down a Failing Global Bank  | United States and European regulators want to standardize derivatives contracts to help cross-border banks fail smoothly. It’s a reminder of how much work still needs to be done to end “too big to fail,†Daniel Indiviglio of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
