A certain big-time lawyer turned big-time fraudster — Marc Dreier, aka “Mini-Madoff” — will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars. He must miss his days of house arrest, when he got to hole up in 34C — not just a great bra size, but also a great apartment — at One Beacon Court.

That apartment is no longer his. The New York Law Journal reports:

The luxury midtown Manhattan apartment of disgraced attorney Marc S. Dreier was sold at auction for $8.2 million, about $2 million less than the $10.43 million he paid in 2007.

The sale of the condominium at 151 E. 58th St. came just one week after Southern District Judge Jed S. Rakoff sentenced Mr. Dreier to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a multi-year Ponzi scheme that fleeced more than $400 million from clients of Dreier LLP and investors to whom he sold bogus promissory notes.

Forty-six bidders registered for the auction held at Southern District Bankruptcy Court. In just five minutes, the price of Mr. Dreier’s 3,000-square-foot apartment in the Bloomberg Building at One Beacon Court rocketed to $8.15 million from an initial bid of $3 million.

Eight million isn’t chump change. But look at everything the buyer is getting!

* A look at the Dreier detective work performed by Mark F. Pomerantz of Paul Weiss (with a little human resources consulting thrown in). [New York Times]

* Neil Armstrong Dial dreamed of going to space, but instead he went to Foster Pepper in Seattle. [Seattle Times]

* Ex-SEC head Christopher Cox is heading to Bingham McCutchen. [Bloomberg via Dealbreaker]

* Slaughterhouse rules no more? [SCOTUSblog]

* We gave you a special Sonia Sotomayor Weekend Non-Sequitur posting, but we have yet two more links to share. The hearings were a disappointment to liberals hoping to get a “liberal Scalia,” says the Washington Post, and asks: “Did the hearings reveal a true absence of liberal ideas in the 55-year-old judge President Obama chose to fill his first Supreme Court vacancy? Or did they reflect sheer political pragmatism by someone, coached by White House staff members and following the model of other recent nominees, seeking to maximize support by avoiding controversy? ” [Washington Post]

* This is an excellent moment at which to have Jeffrey Toobin explain the “Bork effect.” [New Yorker]

The long (inter)national Marc Dreier nightmare is almost at an end. He’s been sentenced to 20 years for defrauding his clients and investors. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports:

Prosecutors had asked for a 145-year sentence, which harked back to the 150-year sentence U.S. District Judge Denny Chin readily handed down to Bernie Madoff, whose massive Ponzi scheme drained the bank accounts of countless investors. In both cases defense attorneys sought a fraction of that. Dreier’s attorney sought no more than 12-and-a-half years.

But Dreier drew U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who has been highly critical of the length of sentences under the federal sentencing guidelines, particularly in white collar crime cases.

Bernie Madoff gets 150 years, but Dreier only gets 20? Justice may be blind, but she’s certainly not deaf.

Breaking: Marc Dreier Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison [WSJ Law Blog]

Earlier: Is Marc Dreier Almost As Bad as Bernie Madoff?

The federal government seems to think so, based on the sentence they’re seeking. We’re kind of proud that one of our own, a lawyer, can rank up there with one of the greatest swindlers of all time.

And what does Marc Dreier think he deserves? No more than 12 1/2 years, according to his sentencing memo. More details, including excerpts from Dreier’s seemingly heartfelt letter to Judge Rakoff, over at the WSJ Law Blog.

U.S. Seeks 145-Year Sentence for Lawyer in Fraud Case [City Room]
Sentencing Looming, Dreier Asks For No More than 12 1/2 Years [WSJ Law Blog]

Find out over at our sister site, Dealbreaker, which has the latest news.

Dreier Sheets [Dealbreaker]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Marc Dreier

* Marc Dreier pleaded guilty yesterday. “He has disgraced the honorable profession of law,” said Judge Jed S. Rakoff. [New York Times]

* Dreier’s $400 million swindle obviously supported quite a lavish lifestyle. Check out his 2500+ sq. ft. Southampton beach house to be auctioned off next month. [David R. Maltz & Co.]

* The Legal Intelligencer has launched a series looking at the way the legal industry is changing. First part of the series gives kudos to Eckert Seamans for recognizing that first-year associates are worthless. [Legal Intelligencer]

* Judge lets Rod Blagojevich use his campaign fund for his defense costs and lets him have all the lawyers his little heart desires. [Chicago Tribune]

* The SCOTUS nomination process continues to generate massive speculation. Today, the Washington Post says there’s a strong push for a Hispanic justice. But the article has this insightful tidbit: “The White House is constructing its appointment strategy on the belief that this will not be [Obama’s] only appointment to the court and that he need not reach his goal of changing the racial, ethnic and gender balance on the court with just one pick.” [Washington Post]

[Ed. note: This is a cross-post from one of our sister sites, Dealbreaker, which we thought you might appreciate because of its focus on an ATL celebrity: the recently indicted, high-profile litigator, Marc Dreier.]

Muffie Benson-Perella (muffie AT muffmarkets.com) was an Associate in the Investment Banking Division of a “Bulge Bracket” bank. She holds a B.A. in French and Art from Vassar College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She concentrated in Contemporary French Poetry at prep school where she was awarded the exclusive premiership of the school’s “French Club.” Today, Ms. Benson-Perella is the Founder and Managing Director of “Muffie on Markets” (http://www.muffmarkets.com), a deep dive into capital markets, finance and investment strategy. She is also the Founder and Managing Director of Muff Cap, LLC., an invitation only, private investment vehicle for non-existent, prestigious and accredited investors only, employing an actively managed, long-short strategy.

There are few things as shameful as the deteriorating state of art and culture in this country. It will come as no surprise to my loyal readers, then, that the subtle, magnificent craft of portraiture appears utterly lost in a thick fog of mediocrity and a pretentious depthlessness. Of course, I can only refer to the latest visual representation of Marc S. Drier (for I cannot bring myself to call it a “picture” or “drawing” much less “art.”)

It is the essence of such representations that their creation at least attempt to rise to the level of their subject. In this case, admittedly, that is a tall order. The almost uniformly elegantly dressed senior partner of Park Avenue law firm Dreier LLP, Dreier presents a rich, complex texture, shot through with conflicts, dark veins of opposing forces, their churning opposition pressing the envelopes of the psyche, yearning for nothing but escape, escape, escape. Contrast the subtle signs of whirlwinds below the impeccable exterior with the rarely seen, but palpable, open, unshorn rouge and we can forgive him his undergraduate transgressions at Yale, for he certainly redeemed himself at Harvard Law thereafter, and this institutional combination, fatal in any weaker, less featured personality, permits Dreier to wear scruff like a bright ascot, an opportunity he occasionally indulges to juxtapose polished Fifth Avenue class with the suggestion that “That whole Yale thing” might not be that far from the surface, even after all these years.

There is a brazen yet subtle boldness in Dreier, the kind of audacity that mounts his brilliant deceptions in full view of the world, in the fishbowl of a glass-walled conference room, taunting the prospect of discovery as office staff who might at any time recognize him, call him the wrong name, plunge him into drowning, downward spiraling agony, walk by and casually glance through ethereal walls of glass that offer scant protection. The pulsing rhythm of office traversal, and throbbing mechanics of discovery. And who can deny the social genius of targeting Canadian Teachers and U. S. Real Estate firms as the foils of a fraud designed to sap the savviest of hedge funds? The very fabric of his machinations: wry social commentary.

Read the rest of the post, and comment, over at DealBreaker.

* A “court” upheld the government’s authority to tap international phone calls and emails without a warrant. [The Washington Post]

* Would-be Attorney General Eric Holder’s confirmation hearing went well yesterday, and he will go for more today. [The Associated Press]

* Marc Dreier, the lawyer who sold hedge funds phony investments, wants to be released on bail. [Reuters]

* The Senate released the second portion of the bailout fund yesterday, giving Obama a tidy $350 billion to get the economy back on track. [The New York Times]

* In an effort to rally lending, President-elect Obama’s advisors are considering drastic proposals that would take toxic assets of bank balance sheets. [Bloomberg]

This should not come as a great surprise, but let’s go ahead and close the loop. From the WSJ Law Blog:

Nearly two weeks ago, mere hours after Marc Dreier was arrested up in Canada for allegedly impersonating an in-house lawyer at a pension fund, lawyers at the eponymous law firm were heralding its doom. “It’s over,” said one litigation partner at the time.

On Tuesday, the predictions came true; Dreier LLP filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. In its petition, filed by Stephen Shimshak and Brian Hermann at Paul Weiss — where the receiver in the case, Mark Pomerantz, also hangs his hat — Dreier claims to have liabilities tallying between $10 million and $50 million.

The best reading in the petition is the list of creditors. Seems Mr. Dreier hadn’t been keeping up with the firm’s bills. Among those allegedly owed: the landlord of 499 Park Ave. ($908k); West Publishing ($441k); American Express ($323k); PR firm Van Prooyen Greenfield ($274k); ABM Janitorial Services ($89k); and AT&T ($81k).

And you thought your Westlaw bill was big….

A little more, after the jump.

More bad news for Marc Dreier, the formerly high-flying, Maxim model-dating litigator. From Bloomberg News:

Marc Dreier, the jailed New York law firm founder, must remain in prison while he fights charges that he swindled hedge funds, a federal judge ruled after a prosecutor accused the lawyer of stealing $380 million.

“The evidence does appear to show an enormous risk of flight,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Eaton said at a bail hearing today in Manhattan federal court for Dreier, namesake of the New York law firm Dreier LLP.

Dreier, 58, was arrested on Dec. 7 on U.S. charges that he persuaded two unidentified hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by claiming, falsely, that he was selling at a discount notes issued by New York developer Sheldon Solow. He was arrested after returning to New York from Toronto, where he had been briefly jailed for impersonating a lawyer at the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.

More links and discussion, after the jump.

Apologies, readers. Although we broke the story of high-profile lawyer Marc Dreier’s arrest in Canada, we’ve fallen behind in covering the latest developments in the Dreier saga (of which there have been many). Fortunately, our friends over at Am Law Daily and the WSJ Law Blog have been following the story quite closely.

We’ve collected some links at the end of this post. The highlights:

• A summary of recent developments, from the WSJ Law Blog: “Dreier appeared to get hit from all sides: a criminal charge in New York stemming from an alleged $100 million fraud against various hedge funds; an SEC suit alleging Dreier had been marketing and selling fake promissory notes to investors; and a suit by Wachovia Bank against Dreier, Dreier LLP (and a handful of others), alleging that a credit revolver and term loan extended to the firm are in default, as of November 1, upon which the bank is owed some $12.7 million.”

  

• The latest news, from Am Law Daily: “[I]t appears very likely that client funds are indeed missing, according to a sworn statement (PDF) that Dreier partner Joel Chernov gave the SEC…. In the statement, Chernov said Dreier spoke to him and fellow Dreier partner Steven Gursky from a Toronto jail after his arrest there for impersonating a lawyer in an attempt to scam an investment group into wiring him more than $30 million. In those conversations, Chernov told the SEC, Dreier admitted improperly using client funds. Dreier also said that he could have refilled the escrow accounts if only he could return to New York. How? Apparently by selling part of an art collection valued at between $30 and $40 million, according to a separate statement (PDF) from John Provenzano, the firm’s Controller.”

  “In his statement, Provenzano claimed Dreier called him twice from the Toronto jail asking him in separate requests to wire $8 million and $10 million from the firm’s escrow accounts into Dreier’s personal accounts. Provenzano (wisely) refused. He also told Dreier the firm owed clients $38 million in connection with its representation of 360Networks. That’s when Dreier mentioned the money he could make selling his art.”

  Fine art — no surprises there. As noted, Marc Dreier has a taste for the finer things in life (like luxury real estate).

  And that’s not all. A source tells us that Dreier is something of a playboy, with a pattern and practice of dating Maxim models (yes, plural). And “not ‘Maxim-quality’ models,” emphasized our source, “but actual Maxim models.”

  If Marc Dreier ends up in prison, at least he’ll have nice memories to keep him warm at night.

  Filings Describe “Devastating Effect” on Dreier LLP [WSJ Law Blog]
  Client Funds Missing, Details on Dreier’s Art Collection, Attorneys Fleeing [Am Law Daily]
  Dreier Faces More Allegations [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]
  The Death of the Dreier Model [Am Law Daily]

We’ll have a more detailed Marc Dreier post up later; there have been a number of developments since our last report. In the meantime, check out this post by Zach Lowe, about the breaking news that Marc Dreier has been indicted in federal court.

Breaking: Dreier Indicted in Federal Court [Am Law Daily]

There are more updates to the saga of Marc Dreier and Dreier LLP over at Am Law Daily. They report that Wilson Sonsini has been retained, by a “substantial group of partners and associates” at Dreier, “to examine the operations and finances of the Dreier firm, including escrow accounts.”

The Am Law post also has a picture of Marc Dreier and Michael Padfield, the lawyer he allegedly attempted to impersonate. The two look nothing alike. Dreier is old ‘n grizzly, while Padfield is fresh-faced and kinda cute (albeit in a Canadian, law-dork sorta way).

Last night we spoke with a Dreier lawyer who gave us an inside peek at the current situation. The outlook is grim.

“There’s no way to save the firm given the amount of missing money,” said our source. “Dissolution is definite. The firm can’t make the next payroll. Most partners are packing up — staying here is not an option.”

We had previously heard reports of Dreier dragging his feet on paying bills, which our source confirmed: “He stiffed a lot of our creditors and vendors. Some have not been paid for a year. He’s way behind on the rent.”

Could other lawyers at Dreier be on the hook for firm liabilities? Our source thinks not. “First, he’s the sole equity partner. Second, it’s an LLP anyway.”

A little bit more, after the jump.

We bring you assorted addenda to our earlier coverage of Marc Dreier — founder and managing partner of Dreier LLP, as well as the firm’s sole equity partner — who was arrested on Tuesday night in Toronto.

First, Dreier is now free on bail. From the Toronto Star (which a tipster tells us is our “best bet” for Dreier coverage in Canada, “as it is the equivalent of the New York Post”):

A prominent New York lawyer walked out of a Toronto court today after posting $100,000 cash bail. Marc Dreier, 58, has been charged with personation with intent. He was represented at today’s bail hearing by lawyer Edward Greenspan.

Greenspan said he was “pleased” his client was released on bail, but that it wasn’t unexpected. “He was charged with a minor offence under Canadian law,” Greenspan said. “The only allegation is that he impersonated another lawyer.”

An ATL source provides context:

Mr. Dreier is apparently out on bail ($100,000 Canadian, or $77,330.93 U.S.). He’s also retained Eddie Greenspan, Canada’s answer to Johnnie Cochran. Mr. Greenspan represented Lord Conrad Black in Chicago and a number of other high-profile cases in Canada. He’s the go to guy if you’re rich, in trouble, and in Canada.

More information and links — about the allegations against Marc Dreier, his extensive real estate holdings, and the demise of Dreier’s summer program — after the jump.

More details have emerged in the story we broke last night, concerning the arrest of high-flying New York litigator Marc Dreier, founder and managing partner of Dreier LLP.

In the comments to our post, some of you wondered about the lack of MSM coverage. The story has now been picked up by the New York Post, the New York Times’s City Room blog, and the WSJ Law Blog (all of whom mention ATL — thanks for the shout-outs).

From the NYP story:

The founder of a high-profile Manhattan law firm - and close friend of retired Giant Michael Strahan - has been arrested in Canada on charges of criminal impersonation, The Post has learned.

The powerful white-shoe lawyer, Marc Dreier, 58, was arrested on Wednesday and is cooling his heels in a grimy jail cell just west of Toronto.

We had also heard the impersonation allegation, but held off on mentioning it until we had more details. One source tells ATL that the alleged impersonation stemmed from Marc Dreier’s attempt to secure a loan. When credit markets get tough, the tough get… new identities?

The Post also reports that Dreier was arrested on Wednesday; we reported the arrest took place Tuesday. According to City Room, the arrest took place late on Tuesday night (11:25 PM).

More from the Post:

“He is in provincial custody in Maplehurst Correctional Complex,” said an employee at the Ontario pokey. His bust stems from his alleged role in a multimillion fraud case, a source told The Post.

A detective for the Toronto Police Department confirmed Dreier’s arrest but said he couldn’t provide specific details about the nature of the criminal impersonation charges because the investigation was still ongoing.

Additional details, from news accounts and from ATL sources, after the jump.