After five years, two trials, an appeal, two regulatory investigations, thousands of hours of tedious legal work, multi-millions of dollars in legal cost and untold damage to the attorney-client privilege, the Justice Department has finally decided to cut its losses with regard to its misguided harassment of former Credit Suisse investment banker Frank Quattrone (previous posts here). This NY Times article reports that Mr. Quattrone has entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department that will impose no penalty and will not require Quattrone to admit any wrongdoing. The deal is scheduled for court approval this coming Tuesday in New York City.
So, yet another chapter closes in the story of the Great Waste of the federal government’s dubious criminalization of business in this post-bubble era.