Former Tech Banking Star Pleads Innocent
By ERIN McCLAM
NEW YORK (AP) — A former technology banker who rose to stardom during the dot-com boom pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges that he encouraged employees to destroy documents sought by investigators.
Frank Quattrone entered the plea in Manhattan federal court, setting the stage for a trial scheduled to begin Sept. 29.
Quattrone, 47, was highly influential at Credit Suisse First Boston during the tech bubble. He is accused of approving a December 2000 e-mail that urged CSFB workers to “catch up on file cleaning” for the holidays.
A federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission were looking into how the company allocated shares of initial public stock offerings. The investigation was closed without charges in 2001.
An indictment handed up earlier this month charged Quattrone with obstructing the grand jury and SEC investigations and witness tampering – offenses that carry penalties of up to 25 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors and Quattrone’s lead lawyer told U.S. District Judge Richard Owen on Tuesday that they would need roughly a week to present their cases at trial.
Both sides declined comment outside court. During the hearing, Quattrone spoke only to say he understood the charges against him and to enter his plea: “I’m innocent.”
At CSFB, Quattrone presided over initial public offerings for companies including Amazon.com and Netscape Communications Corp. He earned nearly $100 million per year at the height of the Internet bubble.
But when tech stock prices plummeted in 2000 and 2001, the SEC and federal prosecutors began scrutinizing how IPO shares had been doled out.
The indictment quotes a Dec. 5, 2000, e-mail from Quattrone to workers in CSFB’s technology group: “We strongly suggest that before you leave for the holidays, you should catch up on file cleaning.”
According to the indictment, another CSFB executive had suggested the language the day before, adding in a note to Quattrone: “Today, it’s administrative housekeeping. Tomorrow, it could be improper destruction of evidence.”
Quattrone, who lives in Menlo Park, Calif., left CSFB earlier this year.
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