Bad gas: From 2004 to 2008, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon ran a private hedge fund that traded the same commodities that Chesapeake produced, according to Reuters. The $200 million fund listed Chesapeake's Oklahoma City HQ as its mailing address, and employed an accountant who was also on staff at the natural gas powerhouse. Marketing the fund, we expect, was a breeze.

McClendon addressed media for the first time since he was stripped of his chairmanship, but wouldn't discuss reported conflicts of interest: "Your mother told you not to believe everything you read or hear for good reason,” he said.

Phoenix falls: Merger discussions between New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf and SNR Denton fell through yesterday, raising the chances that Dewey will collapse under the weight of its debt burden and partner exodus. Chances for a deal, which SNR Denton brass nicknamed "A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes," diminished after Dewey announced that the Manhattan's district attorney had opened a criminal investigation into the firm, according to the Journal.

Priced to sell: Carlyle Group closed its IPO at $22 a share, valuing the company at $6.7 billion, after the private equity firm lowered its asking price from the $23 to $25 range it had sought. The lower price reflects skittishness after previous private equity IPOs lost value, but founders Bill Conway, Daniel D'Aniello and David Rubenstein will make out fine: Each retains about 15 percent ownership in the company.

The D.C.-based firm will trade on Nasdaq under the CG ticker.

Class warfare: At a meeting with Obama campaign manager Jim Messina last fall, a wealthy donor asked whether there was anything the president could do to stop attacks on the rich, Nicholas Confessore reports in the forthcoming Times Sunday Magazine:

The president had won plaudits for his speech on race during the last campaign, the guest noted. It was a soaring address that acknowledged white resentment and urged national unity. What if Obama gave a similarly healing speech about class and inequality? What if he urged an end to attacks on the rich?

It's a brilliant anecdote, and a not not alarming bit of self-pity and conflated identification. But there's something about the nakedness of the appeal that disarms: Isn't it our right, the donor seemed to be asking, to be rich?

(H/T Greg Sargent.)

Off again, on again: So much for the hope (in some quarters) that the Volcker rule would be scrapped. Jamie Dimon led a cadre of bank chieftains into a meeting with Fed governor Daniel Tarullo yesterday, presumably to criticize the rule. Nonetheless, the Dealbook reports that regulators are hammering out the final language, and think they're back on track to meet the July deadline set forth in Dodd-Frank.

North rises: Canadian banks have gone on a buying spree as U.S. and European banks shed assets in the wake of impending doom, with the six largest banks from the Great White North dropping a cool $38 billion on acquisitions since 2008. The upshot: Canada is home to four of the world's top 10 strongest banks, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports. (JPMorgan is the strongest U.S. bank, according to Markets, clocking in at 13th worldwide.)

P&Ls: For those who have already gotten over the disturbing story linking the influx of casino cash to dead horses at New York State racetracks, the Journal figured out which Kentucky Derby entrants have been the best investments.

Somebody Screamed: Sotheby's sold Edvard Munch’s The Scream for a record $119.9 million last night, smashing the mark for art-at-auction, set at Christie's in 2010. Gallerist has the action.

If you're into that kind of thing: The blogger who brought you the Anonymous Finance Guy Who Pays for Sex is back, this time with the Anonymous Wall Street Escort Who Wants to Tell Clients They’re Bad in Bed.

[Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images]

On the morning of July 1, Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Baum exchanged e-mails about a Nicholas Confessore story that came out that day, which was about Mr. Spitzer's latest attack on state legislators. In it, you'll see that Mr. Spitzer really cared about things like ledes and headlines and that he found Mr. Confessore's story "superficial", and his top aide found it "amazing" for "what they pass off as analysis."

The passage from the report:

Powell and Confessore write that reporters at the paper were reviewing a fairly run-of-the mill federal case against four people involved with a prostitution ring presented by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney last Thursday when they "learned of the unusual presence of three lawyers from the corruption unit, including the boss of that division and an F.B.I. agent from one of the bureau’s public corruption squads. The public corruption units often look at the conduct of elected officials." Sources told the Observer that it was courts reporter William Rashbaum who secured the early tip--in this case, it appears information about the lawyers who were working the case--and was the lead in the earliest part of the paper's investigation.

By the end of the day Friday, as the Observer reported yesterday, the Times was confident that the elected official was Eliot Spitzer. By Saturday, the paper had a reporter camped outside Mr. Spitzer's home to see if he was meeting with senior aides. By Sunday, the paper emailed the governor's spokeswoman asking for "the governor’s travel records for the week of Feb. 11, 2008, specifically Feb. 11 through Feb. 15. The message also requested the names of all the hotels he stayed at, where he traveled, flight records and any available records of receipts billed to the state."

The spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, presumed it was a story about the governor's on-going entanglement with Joe Bruno. It was that night that Spitzer--who was informed on Friday by investigators that he was wiretapped--fessed up. Powell and Confessore write:

The entire article also provides some lively anecdotes about Spitzer--including a run-down of what he did over the weekend, like taking jogs around Central Park--that make it a must read.

An aide to Hillary Clinton promised that her boss won't forget about certain donors who give the maximum amount of money to the campaign.

Ann Michaud looks at the African-American bundlers helping out the 2008 candidates.

Liz notes there are some important numbers still not available in the revised budget proposal Eliot Spitzer released today.

Nicholas Confessore tries translating Spitzerspeak.

Democrats are looking for convention delegates.

There's a fight over pedicabs in City Hall.

Ray Kelly defended the police intelligence surveillance leading up to the Republican National Convention in 2004.

Sweet Jesus is no more.

And pictured above are some particularly fashion forward protesters on the City Hall steps.

-- Azi Paybarah