Witness Says He Warned Quattrone

The star prosecution witness against former Silicon Valley investment banker Frank Quattrone testified briefly Wednesday about the months leading up to the banker’s e-mail at the heart of his retrial.

David Brodsky, a former top lawyer at Credit Suisse First Boston, said he warned Quattrone in September 2000 that regulators might seek testimony from him in an inquiry into the allocation process for new-to-market stocks.

Less than three months later, Quattrone endorsed an e-mail that urged CSFB employees to destroy some documents -- a move the government contends was a deliberate effort to hinder the federal stock investigation.

However, the crucial part of Brodsky’s testimony was expected to come today. He was expected to say, as he did at the first trial of Quattrone in the fall, that he warned Quattrone hours before he sent the e-mail to get his own lawyer.

Brodsky also testified at the first trial that he repeatedly warned CSFB executives, including Quattrone, that it was important to keep word of the criminal stock probe from becoming public.

Quattrone contends his e-mail was in line with CSFB policy, which required employees to discard old documents. He also claims he did not know the full scope of the investigation.

The 48-year-old former banker is charged with obstruction of justice and witness tampering. His first trial ended in a hung jury in October. He gained star status in the investment banking industry in the late 1990s, when he took companies like Amazon.com Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. public.

On Wednesday, jurors also heard from Linda Jackson, a former CSFB employee who said she discarded some documents after receiving the document-destruction e-mail and Quattrone’s endorsement of it in December 2000.

Jackson gave similar testimony at the first trial. The trial is being held in federal court in Manhattan.