The Fox Returns To The Hen House

So Frank Quattrone walks, huh?

I want to make sure I understand this.

The U.S. Attorney General’s office prosecuted Quattrone for obstruction of justice based on an Email he sent to colleagues telling them to “clean up files” because the man who made a name for himself in securing venture capital funding for dot.com startup companies in the ‘90s was being investigated, along with his employer Credit Suisse First Boston, regarding the question of whether or not they gave some clients privileged access to technology shares in return for getting other business.

If all our Justice department had as evidence in its investigation of Quattrone was the Email (and they could never prove that any files were actually destroyed, apparently), then who was the bone head who made the decision to bring this dog of a case to trial?

And the basis of the appeal that led to the charges being dismissed against Quattrone was some alleged impropriety in the instructions given to the jury in the first trial.

I understand that, based on the way Quattrone operated, by the time you heard about some hot new initial public offering coming down the road that he was managing (such as Cisco), the insiders had already dumped their shares because the stock price had already peaked. That’s dirty and lowdown, but perfectly legal in the business world, I realize.

What gets me is that the massive expansion of this bubble by Quattrone and others like him made the bursting of it so much worse and more detrimental to others in the industry who lost their jobs as a result (of course, those people are basically anonymous in this story).

This paragraph in the BBC story made me shake my head in disgust.

The decision is a major blow to prosecutors who sought to prove that Mr. Quattrone manipulated access to information about newly floated companies, leading investors to subsequently lose money.

"After a thorough investigation it has been determined that the interest of the US and your own interest will best be served by deferring prosecution," the US Attorney General's Office said in a statement.

Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Quattrone must report to officials before traveling abroad and must "associate only with law-abiding persons".

Whose interest is being served again in this? How much of our tax dollars were spent on this case that was ultimately lost by our Justice department?

Here’s another passage that made me want to scream.

One legal expert said the agreement meant Mr. Quattrone would escape the "stigma of conviction".

"Quattrone has received the same punishment as someone who smuggled a few Cuban cigars into the US," said Timothy Coleman, co-chairman of the law firm Dewey Ballantine's.

And according to Wikipedia, “Mr. Quattrone will receive $100 million to $120 million in overdue compensation, so long as he abides by an agreement and does not break the law for a year. Credit Suisse already paid for Quattrone’s legal costs.”

And as things stand now, it is distinctly possible that Quattrone will never serve a day in jail.