DealZone

More than 80 percent of venture capitalists believe the initial public offering market is at very weak levels and it is curbing profits, according to a new survey.

Online video site Hulu has been approached by a potential buyer and is weighing whether to sell itself, according to a person familiar with the matter. GigaOM lists the possible candidates and the merits of a deal for each company.

Taiwan regulators rejected Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co’s $1.6 billion joint management buyout of electronics component maker Yageo Corp, a decision that may cast a shadow over other private equity involvement in the island.

Hedge fund managers are sifting through the rubble of the deepening Greek debt crisis to find money-making opportunities, though political uncertainty makes it a risky business.

Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, is close to launching a $10 billion fund, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Hot news items today include the Teva deal, MGM Mirage’s move out of Atlantic City and a possible Siemens spin off. But the limelight shines elsewhere, on a hard rocking Buffet and inmate number No. 61727-054.

Warren Buffett Rocks Out (NYT)
“The Oracle of Omaha made a guest appearance in a music video produced by employees of Geico, the insurer he owns through Berkshire Hathaway.”

Madoff Beaten in Prison (WSJ)
“Mr. Madoff was treated for a broken nose, fractured ribs and cuts to his head and face, according to a felon currently at Butner serving time on drug charges who was familiar with his condition at the time.”

The 20 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch (Business Insider)

(Reporting by Ned Barnett in Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Author John Grisham, master of the legal thriller, says the real-life fraud scandals involving Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford trump even the gripping fiction of his novels.

He says he is fascinated by the accusations of multibillion dollar Ponzi schemes, involving tangled webs of companies and offshore banks, which have put Wall Street financier Madoff in jail for 150 years and are also leveled against Texas billionaire and sports entrepreneur Stanford.

Madoff pleaded guilty in March to a $65 billion fraud and was jailed in June, while Stanford has pleaded not guilty to charges that he bilked investors in a $7 billion swindle.

U.S. securities regulators missed repeated chances to uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, a sharply critical review by a federal watchdog said on Wednesday.

Read the full report below:

Welcome to our live coverage of the Bernie Madoff sentencing. Reuters journalists are outside and inside the Manhattan court where the admitted thief will hear his punishment for running Wall Street’s biggest and most brazen investment scheme. Reuters.com’s intern, Franz Strasser, is sending us updates from the scene that you can follow in the live headline box below.

(Editor’s note: Readers’ comments will appear in a smaller font.)

Update: The live coverage has now ended, but you can still leave a comment below.

The SEC’s decision to let Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff off with a “no admission of wrongdoing” settlement could be defended on a number of levels, but none will be very satisfying on a day when the Obama administration is set to give the much-maligned regulatory body sweeping new powers to oversee U.S. securities markets.

Madoff pleaded guilty to a $65 billion investment scam in a separate criminal case and faces sentencing on June 29. There is no way he is ever returning to Wall Street, and he is probably going to jail for the rest of his life.

One might consider it a waste of SEC resources to pursue the case any further. And there’s poetic justice in the agency, which for decades missed the biggest fraud on Wall Street, being denied any satisfaction in the courtroom. SEC sources said the deal with Madoff is in line with a February settlement that also included no admission or denial of the findings.

One of the more striking aspects about the Madoff affair is the large number of people who appear to have been 'hooked' on Madoff products.

Money managers were drawn by Madoff's air of mystique, his stellar reputation as a market timer, the apparently steady returns with rock bottom volatility and the absence of fees, which some collected from clients anyway.

Those wanting more could simply have increased allocations but some chose to create new investment vehicles instead. Behind the banks and asset managers which lost money, some names appear again and again.

It's hard enough for fund firms to get investors to put money into markets when stocks are so volatile, but it seems they're also still having to wrestle with the bad publicity from U.S. financier Bernard Madoff's giant fraud.

Ashraf Mohamed, portfolio manager and head of Islamic funds at investment firm Stanlib in South Africa, told the London leg of the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit that investors are still nervous of another Madoff.

"All they are doing right now is saying we want to make sure there isn't any risk. One comment is 'let's make sure we don't have another Bernie Madoff situation'," Mohamed said.

There seems to be an endless wave of bad news hitting the hedge fund industry at the moment -- gates and suspensions, record poor performance, the Bernard Madoff scandal and so forth -- but there are still one or two reasons to be positive.

According to a survey of institutional investors by alternative assets data group Preqin, conducted in January (and therefore after the alleged Madoff fraud came to light), only 8 percent said they were no longer confident about hedge funds and would reduce investments.

By contrast, 26 percent said they would be increasing their allocations this year.

In the words of Warren Buffett, “You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out.” But recent months have shown that the nudist beach extended far beyond Wall Street, and beyond the dreams of pioneering schemer Charles Ponzi (above).

For those following along at home, here is a run-down of alleged Ponzi schemes and other scams that have recently emerged during the financial crisis. Pay attention: you can’t tell the faked deaths without a scorecard.

Nicholas Cosmo, Agape World Inc

This Long Island businessman purported to provide commercial bridge loans, but was instead operating a $400 million Ponzi scheme in which early investors are paid with the money of new clients, officials said.