A Court Date for Quattrone Case; Deal Is Possible

After long negotiations to avoid a third trial for Frank Quattrone, prosecutors and defense attorneys are headed back to court amid reports of a deal that would keep the former Credit Suisse investment banker from going to jail.

Granting a request from attorneys for both sides, U.S. District Judge George Daniels in New York scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, Daniels’ clerk said Friday.

The court record didn’t indicate what was at hand for Quattrone, a onetime star at raising capital for Silicon Valley tech firms such as Amazon.com Inc. He has steadfastly maintained his innocence.

Quattrone was charged with urging co-workers to destroy records after he learned that the federal government was investigating how Credit Suisse distributed shares of initial public stock offerings.

His first trial on obstruction-of-justice charges ended with a hung jury in October 2003. He was convicted at a second trial in May 2004, but an appeals court this March ordered a new trial, citing faulty jury instructions.

Mark Pomerantz, Quattrone’s attorney, has been granted a series of trial postponements as talks with the government proceed.

In a letter May 9, Pomerantz said he and the government were “involved in a dialogue that possibly could avoid the need for a third trial.”

Citing unidentified sources, CNBC, the online edition of the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press said Friday that the two sides had struck a deal that would keep Quattrone from spending time behind bars. Bloomberg News quoted Pomerantz as saying Quattrone would not admit guilt or wrongdoing.

Pomerantz didn’t return calls and e-mails Friday from The Times.

David B. Anders, the assistant U.S. attorney who previously prosecuted Quattrone, recently went into private practice. His replacement on the case, William F. Johnson, could not be reached for comment.