As I watched the waves break over the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach this weekend, I noticed a familiar name playing in the last group yesterday with Charlie Wi: Frank Quattrone. Could that really be, I wondered, the Frank Quattrone who was indicted in 2003 and tried twice before he was convicted in 2004? That conviction, however, was reversed on appeal in 2006. The government then extended the fig leaf and Quattrone entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (the government’s version of super secret probation) with all charges dismissed in 2007.
Turns out Mr. Quattrone is, in fact, something of an accomplished golfer and has long played at Pebble Beach (I once had a client who turned to the solitude of the golf course while under indictment, as did Mr. Quattrone).The Quattrone case was for me a tale of the dangers of the world when the government has its eye on you – his alleged crime – forwarding an email okaying the routine destruction of emails after his employer had received an SEC letter of investigation.At his first two trials, a government sympathetic judge, almost insured a conviction against Quattrone with his erroneous jury instructions. That judge was removed from the case by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals when his conviction was reversed. After the appeal, the government, acting appropriately, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with Quattrone and dismissed the case.So, now Frank Quattrone is back at work as an investment banker and is at the top of his golf game, playing in the final group at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am! Not bad.
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