Quattrone Case Given to Yet Another Judge

The criminal case against Frank Quattrone, a former Silicon Valley investment banker whose conviction for obstruction of justice was reversed in March, on Monday was transferred to its second new judge in a week.

U.S. District Judge George Daniels would now hear a retrial of Quattrone if the government decides to pursue it.

Daniels is replacing Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, to whom the case had been assigned Wednesday, said Elizabeth Menard, Kaplan’s assistant.

There was no written order confirming the reassignment and Menard declined to discuss Kaplan’s reasons for recusing himself.

Heather Tasker, a spokeswoman for U.S. Atty. Michael Garcia in Manhattan, said the office had no comment.

Bob Chlopak, Quattrone’s spokesman in Washington, said that he wasn’t aware of the second reassignment and couldn’t immediately talk about its implications.

Quattrone was convicted in May 2004 of encouraging his staff at Credit Suisse First Boston to destroy old records at a time when the brokerage was being investigated for its handling of initial public stock offerings.

But a March ruling by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Quattrone’s conviction and granted another trial. The court also took the case away from its original jurist, U.S. District Judge Richard Owen.

The defense had argued in its appeal that Owen had a pro-prosecution bias. U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Wesley said the appeals court panel found no evidence that Owen was biased, but “ultimately we believe that the interest and appearance of justice are better served by reassignment.”