Revealed as the owner of a 40th-floor apartment at 15 CPW.

The Observer has spent many an afternoon trying to puzzle out the clues in mysterious LLCs. That is, the LLCs that have clues—those that were not registered in Delaware approximately a month before the real estate purchase they were created to shield, named after the building that they are buying property in, and/or in the care of a huge midtown law firm.

But as real estate chronicler Michael Gross proves in a new Newsweek article, promising clues may well be red herrings. When Novgorod LLC purchased a nine-room spread on the 40th floor of 15 Central Park West in 2009, it was assumed that the buyer was one of the many rich Russians who had been sniffing around the building. Quite possibly a rich Russian with some intense personal or professional connection to the city in whose name he'd purchased a $37 million dollar condo.

Mr. Gross, who is finishing up a book on 15 CPW, reveals that the buyer wasn't a rich Russian at all, but rather an American: Bob Diamond, the Connecticut-born CEO of British bank Barclays. In 2009, Mr. Diamond had yet to be raked over the coals for his role in the Libor interest rate scandal (for which he would lose his job, though not his fortune), but he was being pilloried in the press for his excessive pay.

Not hard to see why Mr. Diamond would want to hide the fact that he was buying an extravagant spread at New York's most luxurious condo in the midst of the global financial crisis.

But as Mr. Gross notes, it is the fallout of this financial crisis that has made New York an even more attractive place for the world's wealthiest citizens to park their money. With much of that money belonging to the foreign elite, some of whom made their fortunes via less-than-honorable means, the luxury condo towers have started to displace the so-called "good" buildings lining the Gold Coast at the top of the city's real estate hierarchy. Chief among them (at least for now) is One57. As Gross writes, "its will-to-power penthouses are so high in the sky, they also promise invulnerability to the flight-capital types now pouring into New York to protect fortunes made on the lawless frontiers of emerging markets."

Indeed, while Mr. Diamond and a handful of other buyers at 15 CPW have managed to obscure their identities behind LLCs, the building's level of secrecy is nothing compared to One57, where hardly anyone knows anything about any of the buyers, except that they're fabulously wealthy. And that they probably wouldn't do very well in a co-op board interview.

kvelsey@observer.com

First went Bob Diamond, who snapped up Lehman's U.S. securities business for Barclays, and who stepped down at the beginning of July after his bank agreed to pay $450 million to settle an investigation into its efforts to manipulate interbank lending rates.

Next fell Nomura chief executive Kenichi Watanabe and chief operating officer Takumi Shibata—who led Nomura's deal for Lehman's European and Asian units—amid an insider trading scandal that roiled the Japanese firm.

This week, it seemed, Barclays and Nomura appeared to pare back their respective global ambitions in tandem. Barclays was first again, naming retail banking chief Antony Jenkins to replace Mr. Diamond as chief executive; Mr. Jenkins told Bloomberg that he was"very confident" about the investment bank, and has previously spoken in favor of the universal banking model. Nontheless, Mr. Jenkins becomes the only CEO of a global, universal bank without an investment banking background, raising speculation that Barclays would back away from Mr. Diamond's quest to build a premier investment bank—a quest defined in part by the Lehman acquisition.

Nomura followed suit today, announcing $1 billion in cost cuts in its wholesale unit in a move that marked a retreat from the play for increased global importance hinged on Mr. Fuld's sloppy seconds. Like Mr. Jenkins, new Nomura CEO Koji Nagai has a background that would suggest a more humble strategy: According to The Times, Mr. Nagai "spent most of his career focused on Nomura’s domestic operations"; last month, Mr. Nagai said he plans to reduce the firm's footprint “to an appropriate size.”

(Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Deutsche Bank is one of four European lenders being investigated by U.S. authorities for possible violations involving oil-trading and Iran, a source told Bloomberg.

Best Buy named Hubert Joly, the French-born chief executive of the Carlson hospitality chain, as the new CEO of the electronics chain. The electronics retailer is still jousting with founder Richard Schulze over the terms of a deal to allow Mr. Schulze to review company documents as he puts together a buy-out bid.

Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos is seeking help from the European Central Bank to rein in Spain's sovereign borrowing costs.

The European troika is pressuring Ireland to close a legal loophole impeding foreclosures on loans originated prior to 2009.

JPMorgan tapped former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond to lead an inquiry into the billions of dollars in losses accrued by the bank's chief investment office and the trader known as the London Whale. The inquiry will double-check an earlier internal investigation.

An elder member of the Rothschild banking dynasty has taken a $200 million against the euro.

A Greek hedge fund manager tells Joe Weisenthal to brace for bad news out of Greece as summer holidays end.

Clifford J. White III, director of the Justice Department's U.S. Trustee Program, has presided over more active policing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Some early investors in Groupon, including Marc Andreessen, are cashing in and walking away from the company.

Soft tactics: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England talked about reforming the process by which Libor and other interbank lending rates are set, but play their hands timidly in recommending action. Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic are asking why.

Does anyone want this job? It's a lot easier to say who won't replace Bob Diamond as Barclays CEO than to guess who will. Deputy chairman Michael Rake and the firm's investment banking head Rich Ricci each ruled himself out over the weekend.

If at first you don't succeed...apologize again: Nasdaq announced a new plan to compensate customers for losses suffered due to technical glitches during Facebook's May initial public offering. Among the changes: Nasdaq upped the amount it would refund from $40 to $62 million, agreed to pay refunds in cash, as opposed to with credits on future trades and expanded eligibility for the funds. The expanded plan is unlikely to satisfy all investors. Knight Capital has said lost as much as $35 million on the botched IPO, while reports surfaced last month that UBS might float a much higher number.

Whither Europe: The Spanish government is paying more in borrowing costs than it has at any time since the inception of the euro, and finance minister Luis de Guindos is heading to Berlin tomorrow to talk about it.

Jumping in: Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital hedge fund manager and Democratic Party booster, has finished raising a $3 billion fund to invest in European debt. He joins alternate investment firms such as Blackstone, KKR and Apollo Global Management to seek profit in volatile European markets.

Black list: Zero Hedge reads Italian, spots this list of 10 cities that may default.

Chinese GDP...The new Libor? Investors double-check the math.

Future of futures: The National Futures Association is looking to tighten up its ship after Peregrine Financial Group founder Russell R. Wasendorf misappropriated more than $200 million on the NFA's watch.

Smaller entities slide through loopholes: The largest U.S. lenders have created more than 10,000 subsidiaries in the last two decades in an effort to reduce tax and regulatory exposure.

Ackman acolyte out: Scott Ferguson is leaving Pershing Square to start an activist hedge fund of his own, according to letter obtained by Bloomberg. Mr. Ferguson was the first analyst Mr. Ackman hired at Pershing Square.

Libor-ated: Barclays CEO Bob Diamond maybe wishing he could take a mulligan on his July 4 appearance before Parliament's Treasury Select Committee. Last week, an email from the British Financial Services Authority to Barclays chiding the bank for pushing the envelop in its dealings with regulators had lawmakers calling Mr. Diamond a liar. Yesterday, it was Jerry del Missier, Mr. Diamond's top lieutenant before resigning earlier this month, who seemed to contradict Mr. Diamond's testimony.

Lax compliance: HSBC did business with Mexican drug cartels, Saudi banks with terrorist ties and Iranians under U.S. sanctions, according to a 335-page report released yesterday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, as the firm allowed compliance problems to 'fester.' Executives from the lender are scheduled to testify before the committee today.

Future of futures: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission conducted reviews at PFGBest, the Iowa-based futures broker facing allegations that it's missing more than $200 million in client funds, in 2007 and 2008, but failed to uncover the fraud that has landed the firm in liquidation, Bloomberg reports. That's despite the fact that PFG founder Russell R. Wasendorf said that he has been falsifying records for 20 years in a note written before his attempted suicide last week. The National Futures Association—PFG's regulator—is conducting a review of its audit division.

Whiter Europe: Moody's cut ratings on 13 Italian banks after downgrading the country's sovereign debt last week. Is Italy just Spain with better PR?

Chief Yahoo: Former Google executive Marissa Mayer was named CEO at Yahoo yesterday. Ms. Mayer told Forbes that she's pregnant; it sounds like Dan Loeb would have been informed.

Criminal incubators? A professor at University of Chicago's Booth School of Business asks whether MBA programs can do better when it comes to teaching ethics.

Slum lords? U.S. Bank is failing to maintain hundreds of foreclosed properties, according to an enforcement action filed by Los Angeles city officials. Memphis Tennessee, Baltimore and Maryland have previously sued banks over the cots of maintaining foreclosed properties.

Hot property: Private equity firms are competing to buy Dick Clark Productions, The New York Post reports.

“We are now ready to effect the hand-over,” Chairman Marcus Agius said in the statement. “The speed with which the transition has been completed reflects the continuity in management and strategy that the succession provides.”

Massachusetts-born Diamond has led Barclays’s investment- banking expansion, including the 2008 purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s U.S. operations. His Barclays Capital unit accounted for 66 percent of the lender’s pretax profit in the first half, up from half last year.

Mr. Diamond can be seen at right, breaking ground on the Atlantic Yards construction site in Brooklyn with Jay Z.

Check out The Biggest Wall Street Stars of 2010.>>

mtaylor [at] observer.com | @mbrookstaylor

Nevertheless, according to photographs posted on the indomitable David Patrick Columbia's New York Social Diary, the billionaire also knows how to kick up his heels, pop on some jewelry, and, as Bess Levin points out, pose with his hands tilted at a perfect and adorable angle. At Bette Midler's "Hulaween" party at the Waldorf for the New York Restoration Project, he dressed up in a Karl Lagerfeld costume so spot-on that one can hear him purr caustic Coco Chanel insults while whistling Cat Power melodies.

His wife, Christine, was Anna Wintour.

There were some less surprising guests--Joy Behar, Gilles Marini, Tommy Motola, Elaine May, and Michael Kors--rubbing elbows with the Wall Street contingent. For example, the Evercore titan (and former Blackstone man!) Roger Altman was with his wife, Juiate Kazickas, dressed up as what looked like a 1950s beauty pageant's host and contestant. Mr. Altman wore a black wig.

A man named Robert Diamond, but almost certainly not that the Robert Diamond who runs Barclays, was in drag.

John Kerry was there, too, as John Kerry.

"As he speaks, a bird thuds straight into his glass-fronted office at North Colonnade, Canary Wharf. 'Boy, that’s gotta hurt,' Diamond says." - The Telegraph's Kamal Ahmed, in his excellent interview with Barclays' new CEO Bob Diamond.

Diamond, originally from Massachusetts, has been with Barclays for 14 years and currently serves as president in charge of corporate and investment banking and Barclays Wealth. He played a key role in Barclays' purchase of Lehman.

The Lehman Brothers estate, which as one might expect has been highly litigious of late, is curently waging a legal battle with Barclays over an alleged $5 billion windfall Barclays realized as a result of buying some of Lehman's assets.

Jerry del Missler and Rich Ricci will jointly take over stewardship of Barclays Capital and corporate invetsment banking.

Separately, thanks to a grant from the government of Scotland Barclays is planning to create as many as 600 jobs in Glasgow by building a new facility for its investment banking and wealth management division.