Ex-banker Quattrone settles case, plans to resume his career

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 The government abandoned the case after taking it to trial twice. NEW YORK (AP) — Former investment banker Frank Quattrone struck a deal Tuesday with prosecutors to dismiss his long-running criminal case, saying he will resume a career that paid him up to $120 million a year for taking fledgling Internet companies public at the height of dot-com mania. "A sunny day!" a triumphant Quattrone said outside U.S. District Court in Manhattan with a giddiness normally reserved for wedding days. Moments earlier, the government let go of a case it had pursued for three years through two trials. The deal calls for the charges to be dismissed after one year if Quattrone stays out of trouble. Quattrone's first trial ended in a deadlocked jury, but prosecutors landed a conviction the second time around. The verdict on charges he obstructed a government probe of stock offerings and an 18-month prison sentence were tossed out by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March. Quattrone never served a day in prison. Allegations The government had claimed Quattrone, 50, slyly urged 400 technology investment bankers he supervised from the Palo Alto, Calif., offices of Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. to destroy files when he learned about multiple investigations. He always said he did not. The firm has since changed its name to Credit Suisse (USA) Inc. On Tuesday, Quattrone appeared jubilant from the moment he entered U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels' courtroom. He went straight to a courtroom artist, hugged her and said, "You look even better than I remember you last time." Then he laughed repeatedly out loud, waved to a friend and giggled as he awaited Daniels, who approved the deferred prosecution agreement. The agreement required no admission of wrongdoing or anything that would stand in the way of Quattrone's future business plans, a point he acknowledged in a statement outside court when he announced, "I plan to resume my business career." He offered no details on how he would resurrect his career. Surrounded by cameras, he read a statement saying he was "very pleased that the case will be concluded" and looked forward to the dismissal of the charges. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia called the deferred prosecution "an appropriate resolution of the case in light of all of the facts and circumstances and the posture of the case at this time."