Business week in pictures

Bernard Madoff received a maximum 150-year sentence for masterminding a $65bn (£38bn) fraud that wrecked the lives of thousands of investors. Madoff's wife Ruth and the couple's sons Andrew and Mark are now set to face an investigation by US federal prosecutors Photograph: Christine Cornell/AP

The Serious Fraud Office revealed it had frozen $100m (£60m) of assets linked to Sir Allen Stanford, the billionaire facing criminal charges over an alleged $7bn fraud, following a request from the US department of justice Photograph: David J Phillip/AP

The government is to nationalise Britain's largest rail franchise – the east coast mainline – after National Express confirmed it could no longer afford the £1.4bn contract Photograph: David Moir/Reuters

British Airways was forced to seek help from the arbitration service Acas to settle the dispute with unions over job losses and a pay freeze. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic announced cuts to 600 jobs and a tenth of its services Photograph: Adrian Dennis/guardian.co.uk

Britain's supermarkets are using the property crash to seize sites for new stores Photograph: David Sillitoe

The Campaign for Real Ale revealed there was a lack of candidates for some of its awards as public houses close at record rate Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Greene King, the Suffolk-based brewer and pub group, revealed an improvement in sales – especially at its market-leading Scottish business Belhaven Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

Drinks company Diageo – with brands including Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff – is to cut 900 jobs in Scotland Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Lloyds Banking Group cut another 2,100 jobs, taking total losses from merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS to about 7,000 Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Marks & Spencer's latest figures beat City expectations with total UK sales up 1.7% Photograph: Sarah Lee

British Gas is to take on 2,600 members of staff to help introduce smart meters Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Britain's mobile phone market faces a huge shake-up with Vodafone considering a bid to buy T-Mobile UK. Meanwhile, O2 won a deal to become the exclusive UK partner for the eagerly awaited Palm Pre mobile phone handset Photograph: Ethan Miller/Getty