U.S. Advises Judge Not to Grant Quattrone New Trial

Federal prosecutors urged a judge Thursday to reject a bid for a new trial filed by Frank Quattrone, the former influential Silicon Valley investment banker convicted last month of obstructing a federal probe.

Lawyers for Quattrone had argued that U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who oversaw the trial, gave misleading instructions to the jury that made the panel more likely to convict the ex-banker.

But prosecutors called the instructions “entirely proper.” They also said the judge should not consider news articles filed by the defense that quoted jurors discussing why they convicted Quattrone.

The 48-year-old former investment banker was found guilty of obstructing an investigation into how his bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, allocated shares of hot new stock offerings during the Internet stock boom.

The case hinged on a December 2000 e-mail in which Quattrone endorsed a colleague’s suggestion that bankers “clean up” their files. The banker said he was following a bank policy that called for routine document destruction.

Quattrone is due to be sentenced in September and could face more than a year in federal prison.

The conviction came in Quattrone’s second trial. His first trial ended last fall in a hung jury.