Morgan Stanley Avoids Charges in Informant Case

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. won’t face criminal charges for paying an informant whose tip led to the arrest of Christian Curry, a black former analyst who sued the firm for racial bias.

In a statement released Wednesday, Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert Morgenthau said officials at Morgan Stanley “exercised poor judgment” in their dealings with the informant, Charles Joseph Leuthke, and with prosecutors, but “no criminal laws were violated.”

Curry is a former junior analyst accused by Morgan Stanley of conspiring to plant racist e-mail messages in the firm’s computers to bolster his bias allegations against the brokerage. Curry filed a $1.77-billion suit against Morgan Stanley alleging that he endured racial harassment during his tenure there and was fired because he is black. The complaint is pending in federal court in Manhattan.

Charges against Curry were dropped after Morgenthau learned of the paid informant.