Prosecutors Rest Case in Retrial of Quattrone

The government rested its case Friday in the retrial of former Silicon Valley star investment banker Frank Quattrone, and the judge denied a defense request to acquit him of all charges.

Federal prosecutors wrapped up their six-day presentation by reenacting two hours of Quattrone’s testimony from his first trial, which ended in a mistrial last fall with jurors deadlocked.

The defense then began to lay out its case.

The former banker is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of witness tampering for a Dec. 5, 2000, e-mail that encouraged workers at Credit Suisse First Boston to destroy documents.

Former CSFB lawyer David Brodsky has testified that he warned Quattrone two days earlier that a criminal probe of the bank’s stock allocation process was underway. He told Quattrone hours before he sent the e-mail that he should get a lawyer.

CSFB policy called for regular destruction of documents unless they were the subject of litigation. The defense contends Quattrone never knew the full scope of the investigation.

Trying to debunk that defense, prosecutors read for the jury part of the testimony from the first trial in which Quattrone admitted he played a role in the bank’s consideration of who would get allocations of hot stocks. The reading made for a bit of courtroom theater, with one prosecutor reciting the questions and another reading Quattrone’s answers.

U.S. District Judge Richard Owen denied a motion by defense attorney John W. Keker that he acquit Quattrone on all counts against him.

The defense called as its first witness Adrian Dollard, a lawyer for CSFB’s technology group, which Quattrone headed. Dollard testified that CSFB lawyers were concerned when they saw the document-destruction e-mail -- sent by another CSFB staffer Dec. 4 and endorsed by Quattrone on Dec. 5 -- but did not correct it until days later.