Ruth Madoff Relinquishes Her Fortune

Bernie Madoff's wife, Ruth, has decided to give up her claim to more than $80 million in assets, says the Wall Street Journal. She will keep $2.5 million in cash, per an agreement with federal prosecutors approved on Friday. According to court documents, Mrs. Madoff agreed to the sale of her properties in Palm Beach, Fla., Montauk, and Manhattan, in addition to boats and other vehicles. Earlier this year Mr. Madoff had requested that prosecutors allow his wife to maintain millions of dollars worth of assets held in her name, which he claimed weren't linked to his fraud. Bernie Madoff is scheduled for sentencing tomorrow. According to her lawyer, Mrs. Madoff won't be attending.

General Motors (GM) will maintain legal liability for claims filed after it exits bankruptcy—even those having to do with vehicles made by the "old company." The issue could have blocked the automaker's quick emergence from bankruptcy, but this deal should resolve it, says the New York Times. The article notes, however, that "Other legal responsibility, including previously filed product liability claims and the closing of G.M. dealers, are likely to remain tied to the G.M. entity that will be left behind in the bankruptcy."

To compensate for their own declining revenue streams, banks are hiking up customer fees on checking accounts, reports the Washington Post. Bank of America (BAC) has changed the maximum number of allowed overdraft fees from five a day to ten, in addition to charging $35 if an account remains in the red for more than five days. Citibank (C) similarly increased its overdraft and its ATM fees for non-Citibank customers. "The purpose of overdraft protection or courtesy overdraft, as it's often called, is to turn something that's like a parking ticket into a profit center," one consumer advocate told the paper, "The $4 latte becomes the $39 latte after the $35 fee."

Small banks are still lining up for TARP money, reports the Wall Street Journal. Small-bank executives who usually don't fly on corporate jets or collect huge bonuses may escape some criticism that bigger banks faced when accepting taxpayer funds. Another advantage: Many "closely held" small institutions haven't publicly announced getting TARP. On the whole, 633 U.S. banks have gotten a total of $199.57 billion in TARP money, according to the Treasury. Of the 32 banks to pay back a combined $70.12 billion thus far, around 20 are small institutions.

A company based in Taiwan, called Acer, is on a pace to overtake Dell (DELL) as the second-biggest PC maker, reports the New York Times. According to the paper, "The company made an aggressive move into the market for netbooks—the small, low-cost laptops that have been a rare bright spot during the worst slump the PC industry has ever faced." If it surpasses Dell, Acer will be the only computer company outside the United States to ever rank that high.

The death of Michael Jackson may have been a turning point for celebrity news Web site, TMZ, the Los Angeles Times notes. The four-year-old Web site broke news of the death—in what the paper calls its biggest scoop thus far—last week and followed up with play-by-play coverage of the aftermath. While some may call its coverage praise-worthy, TMZ may never gain the stature that its executives may perhaps be striving for. The paper remarks, "What may make it even tougher for the website and the TV show to win over advertisers is TMZ's overall association with sensationalism and sleaze."