NEW YORK — Former Credit Suisse First Boston high-tech financier Frank Quattrone was a victim of a ”multicar train wreck on the information superhighway,” defense lawyer John Keker told jurorsTuesday as he presented closing arguments on Day 10 of the landmark obstruction-of-justice trial.
In an attempt to appeal to an unusually educated jury with experience working in large organizations, Keker argued that had CSFB lawyers done their job properly by telling investment bankers not to destroy evidence because of government probes into the allocation of initial public offerings, Quattrone would never have forwarded an e-mail on Dec. 5, 2000, urging his team to ”clean up” their files.
”This isn’t about: ‘Blame the lawyers,’ ” Keker said. ”This is about: ‘Don’t blame the guys at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to legal matters.’ ”
Keker is expected to try to drive home that point when he finishes his closing arguments today. The jury is expected to begin deliberations in the afternoon. Many legal experts say a quick verdict in the complex case would likely mean an acquittal, which could have a chilling impact on white-collar crime cases.
”Keker has identified the Achilles’ heel in the prosecution case,” says George Newhouse Jr., a partner at Thelen Reid & Priest and a former federal prosecutor. ”It is the organizational defense, the idea that it was someone else’s responsibility and that they dropped the ball, even if Quattrone may have kicked it further down the road.”
Prosecutor David Anders, in his closing remarks, portrayed Quattrone as a criminal caught trying to obstruct regulatory and grand jury investigations into whether CSFB took kickbacks for giving hedge funds hot stock offerings. His motive, Anders said, was to protect the firm and his large salary, which peaked at $120 million in 2000.
Anders argued that Quattrone, like New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, was ”at the top of his game” and understood the consequences of endorsing an e-mail, written by a subordinate the previous day, that urged employees to destroy extraneous notes and other documents.
”The government can’t effectively investigate corporate crime if people don’t play by the rules,” Anders said. ”That’s why this case is about more than just a two-line e-mail. This case is about a man’s decision to put his interests ahead of his responsibilities.”
Anders used a series of documents, memos and e-mails to show that Quattrone was repeatedly warned that he and his department had records that were possibly important to investigators. ”He could have and should have stopped that e-mail. He didn’t,” Anders said. ”Frank Quattrone was caught red-handed.”
Keker told jurors to ignore the government’s ”conjecture, speculation and false logic.”
