Citigroup chairman Dick Parsons hasn't been all that successful in fixing the ailing bank. Although Citi indicated yesterday that plans to reduce the government's stake in the bank—and return part of the $45 billion of taxpayer money it's received—it remains the most troubled major financial institution in America. (And it continues to be led by Vikram Pandit, who is probably the worst CEO of a major financial institution that still has a full-time job.) But don't let that stop you from pursuing a little freelance work, Dick.

There's lot of financial news to be cheerful about today. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the worst recession since the Great Depression is "probably over" at this point, which is certainly nice to hear even if Bernanke did say that it would be some time before the economy really turned around and new jobs were created. But that's not all!

The NYT Business section did a nice little Where Are They Now on some fallen banker komrades from Lehman Brothers. Are they destitute? Are they happier? Are they better than they were before? And: should we feel bad for them?

The Way We Live Now: Always forgetting. We're back into stocks! We're back to buying art! We're...poor! Statistics prove it. But we already forgot. Live it up, for tomorrow you may die of something weird.

John Mack announced plans to step down as Morgan Stanley's CEO at the end of the year. He'll won't be departing the bank entirely: Mack will become Morgan's chairman on January 1, and the chief executive role will be handed over to James Gorman, the former McKinsey consultant and Merrill Lynch exec who joined Morgan Stanley four years ago and now heads up the firm's brokerage business. Mack has been making plans to retire long before the financial crisis battered the bank. But the events of the past year certainly played a role in the change in power, and what sort of legacy Mack will leave behind remains an open question.

The deadline for Annie Leibovitz to repay her $24 million loan from Art Capital Group passed last night at 11:59 p.m. She didn't (her spokesman says she's trying to "work things out"), but Art Capital is mum. What's going on?

It's been nearly a year since Lehman Brothers went bust, making it the perfect occasion to send a reporter to hunt down Lehman's former CEO, Dick Fuld. A Reuters correspondent managed to find him last Friday, looking tan and dressed in and well-rested at his "country house in a bucolic setting beside a river and amid tree-covered slopes in Ketchum, Idaho." So how's he doing?

The SEC's inspector general finally released the full 477-page internal audit on Bernie Madoff's misdeeds and how the SEC completely missed the mark on catching them. How badly did they completely screw the pooch on this one?

This just in: Wall Street CEOs make a lot more than average Americans! "The top five executives at each of the 20 banks that accepted the most federal bailout dollars averaged $32 million a piece in personal compensation from 2006 through 2008, according to the findings of the 16th annual Institute for Policy Studies' 'Executive Excess' report. The institute calculated that 100 average U.S. workers would have to labor over 1,000 years to make as much as these 100 executives." [Daily Finance]

Today is not a good day for Hassan Nemazee, the banker and Democratic heavyweight who served as finance co-chairman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. He's now out on bail following his indictment on bank fraud charges, which is nice. And the terms of his release allow him to remain in his Park Avenue apartment under house arrest, which is good, too. But he can't do very much. He's not allowed to watch TV or use a computer. And making ends meet may be tough for Nemazee now that he's had to put his apartment and weekend home up as collateral, and the judge also prohibited him from applying for any new bank loans or credit cards. But have no fear, Hassan! We have a little workaround for you.

Hassan Nemazee, the banker and Democratic mega-fundraiser who was charged yesterday with forging financial documents to get Citibank to give him a $74 million loan, got to leave prison today. And just like Marc Dreier and Bernie Madoff before him, he'll be under house arrest from now on, confined to a $20 million, 14th floor co-op at 770 Park Avenue. The terms of Nemazee's release are pretty strict: The $25 million bail package requires him to pledge his Park Avenue apartment and house in Katonah as collateral; he'll be monitored round the click via electronic bracelet; and the judge also banned him from using computers, the Internet, or getting a new cell phone. (What's he going to do all day? God only knows.) Prosecutors argued for the tough terms because they said Nemazee is a flight risk, and by the looks of it, the judge was inclined to agree. But that's where you come in! The apartment next door to Nemazee's is up for sale. Maybe you want to move in and keep an eye on him? We can't say so for sure, but prosecutors might be willing to cut you a break the next time jury duty rolls around if you step up and perform the valuable service. A couple of pics and a floor plan of Apt. 14B are below.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, may be the "accidental media mogul," in the words of Keith Kelly. But it's also fair to say he's done a good job establishing himself as the "accidental beneficiary of fraud," too. According to a finance professor who's been poring over documents in the Bernie Madoff case, JPMorgan Chase racked up $483 million in profits between 1992 and 2008 thanks to the fact Madoff was a loyal JPMorgan Chase customer for all those years, and he used his various accounts with the firm to store billions of dollars. Sadly, Madoff's unwavering loyalty to the bank has yet to result in Dimon renaming the Chase branch at Madison and 64th Street in Madoff's honor. But if you stop by and you feel the ghost of Bernie in the air, let us know. [FT Alphaville]

The new chairman of the New York Fed is not a banker or financier! It is Denis Hughes, the president of the New York State AFL-CIO. And the deputy chairman is Columbia University President Lee Bollinger! Crazy! [WP]

Steve Rattner has some company today: One more prominent Upper East Side financier and Democratic mega-fundraiser is now facing an embarrassing financial scandal. Hassan Nemazee, who served as the New York finance chairman for John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004 and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton and, later, Barack Obama, was arrested on charges he "tricked" Citigroup into lending him as much as $74 million using phony documents. Nemazee was charged with one count of bank fraud and is expected to appear in federal court this afternoon. Although judging by some of Nemazee's shady political tactics over the years, it's possible that this wasn't first time he's forged a document or two. [Bloomberg]

Deal! Warner Chilcott Ltd. will reportedly buy Procter & Gamble's prescription-drug wing for $3.1 billion.

Goldman Sachs is in the process of selling the Dow Jones Industrial Average on behalf of News Corporation, John Carney at Business Insider reports. But is it really worth much?

Goldman Sachs has a image problem, as you may have noticed. The firm has been battered by bad press in recent weeks as critics have accused Goldman of having a hand in everything from the destruction of the cookie industry to the spread of nuclear materials to rogue nation-states. (Okay, the firm hasn't been accused of that last one just yet, but it's just a matter of time.) Now, as we head into fall and get closer and closer to bonus season, Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein is getting worried that it's about to get worse. But what to do?

Stephen Dannhauser, the chairman Weil, Gotshal & Manges, has every reason to be sitting smugly in his office chair in the middle of Midtown. Last week, a judge signed off on the firm's $55 million tab for the work Weil has performed in connection with Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy; this week, the firm submitted another bill for $45.2 million more. Kenneth Feinberg, President Obama's pay czar, has suggested putting some sort of cap on Lehman's legal expenses going forward. Why? Isn't a $15,000 postage bill and $67,000 in business meal expenses perfectly reasonable? Ordering in dinner from Le Cirque every night isn't free, you know. [WSJ]

When you set up that secret Swiss account of yours, you assumed that you could totally count on the bank to defend your privacy no matter what the cost, right? If it didn't, what else would Switzerland have to boast about, with the exception of solid skiing, pocket knives, and cough drops? It looks like the world's blandest nation will now have to come up with a new bullet point to add to its tourism brochures. And a trip to a Zurich bank vault will no longer be a staple of international crime capers.

New York's epic article about Annie Leibovitz in this week's issue is well worth a read, particularly since it sheds a little light on how it is one of the world's highest-paid photographers now finds herself on the brink of financial ruin. (If the only person you'll allow to repair your air-conditioner has to travel to NYC from Vermont to do the work, that's probably not a good sign.) Leibovitz's financial fate will likely be sealed in September when the $24 million loan she secured from Art Capital Group last year is due. Interestingly, though, Leibovitz appears to be hinting that the terms of the loan— which required her to put up the rights to her photos and real estate holdings as collateral—only became apparent to her after the Times reported on Art Capital Group back in February. Friends of the photographer suggest that Leibovitz had no idea she was giving up so much when she took out the loan; they also seem to be shifting some of the blame to Ken Starr, the financial adviser who took the photographer on as a client in 2007 and who was also responsible for introducing Leibovitz to Art Capital Group. Pinning the blame on Starr, who boasts an insanely long list of celebrity clients, may be a hard argument to make.