California financier Danny Pang died at home last September just months after being accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Now the coroner's ruled that Pang killed himself with a massive overdose of painkillers, as suspected. [WSJ. Pic: AP]

Danny Pang, California's answer to Bernie Madoff, most likely died last weekend at his own hand, sources close to the police told the Wall Street Journal. The idea of life as a pariah, per Madoff, was apparently too much.

Danny Pang, the California financier being sued by the SEC for international securities fraud, died at home in Orange County of unknown causes. He was 42.

If Danny Pang is California's Bernie Madoff, it's no wonder he tried to innovate on the romantic side of his scheme: Pang's apparent partner is safely abroad, with his assets, rather than despised and poor at home, like Ruth Madoff.

• It looks like Chrysler will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today after last-minute negotiations with creditors failed to result in a deal. [BN]
• Good news: fewer Americans filed first-time applications for unemployment insurance last week. Bad news: personal spending is down. [BN, WSJ]
• UBS has eliminated 2,000 U.S. jobs as part of a round of job cuts. [DB]
• Hedge funder Phil Falcone has been sued by his former right-hand. [NYP]
• State Street Corp. is now under investigation by state regulators. [WSJ]
• Financier Danny Pang has been given $1 million bail. He'll be under house arrest, though, so presumably he won't be heading off to China. [DB]
• Changing AIG's name to AIU has done little to redeem the company's rep or distract from its previous failings, you'll be shocked to hear, we're sure. [NYT]

The FBI has arrested Orange County financier Danny Pang on money-laundering charges, as his firm, PEMGroup, faces an SEC investigation. It's a classic law-enforcement move, like when Eliot Ness caught Al Capone on tax evasion.

Danny Pang, the very colorful financier accused of operating a Ponzi scheme that cheated investors out of hundreds of millions—and who the authorities believed may have fled to China—was taken into custody today in California by the FBI. [WSJ]

A dead stripper wife. A gambling habit. A made-up résumé. All Southern California financier Danny Pang needed to complete the picture was an SEC investigation of an alleged Ponzi scheme. Now he has that, too.

• UBS is cutting another 7,500 jobs after posting a $1.8 billion quarterly loss and clients pulled more than $20 billion out of the firm. [BN, NYT]
• Andrew Cuomo strikes again: Carlyle Group is now under investigation by the attorney general and the SEC over whether it illegally paid third parties to secure $1.3 billion in investments from New York's pension fund. [BN]
• BlackRock plans to raise $5-$7 billion to scoop up toxic assets. [Reuters]
• Scandal du jour: Danny Pang, who heads up the $4 billion fund Private Equity Management Group, has a few questions to answer, it would seem. [WSJ]