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March 18, 2008
The Facts
Frank Quattrone was convicted of obstructing justice and witness tampering in 2004. The conviction stemmed from prosecution charges that Quattrone tried to block investigations by urging colleagues to destroy emails. He supposedly did this to hide the fact that special consideration had been given to certain people regarding the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Linux Systems Inc. in 1999. (Those who were fortunate enough to own Linux stock when it went public saw their stock increase by nearly 698% on the first day.) Quattrone’s conviction was later reversed on the basis that the jury had been given erroneous instructions. Then in 2006 he reached a deal that would defer prosecution. Charges were dropped by The National Association of Securities Dealers, which entitled him to receive up to $550 million in overdue compensations from Credit Suisse, his old company, if he abides by all agreements and does not break the law for one year. But now Quattrone is back; today he announced his intentions to launch his new investment banking firm, Qatalyst Group.
My View
Ok, is he guilty or not; that question will always be out there. Some say he is ‘hardly innocent but not guilty’. But what bothers me is there is no question that he is “shady”. And what has been happening to our investment banking firms for the past several years? To say the least, they have been operating under “shady” circumstances; now look at the mess they are in! So it looks like we got another investment banking firm starting up with a shady owner. I think the only question is how long will it be before we see Qatalyst Group on the front pages like Bear Sterns and others are today? But not to worry; nothing is too good for the taxpayers money except the taxpayers themselves.
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