Frank Quattrone - Life and Career

Life and Career

Quattrone grew up in Philadelphia and attended St. Joseph's Preparatory School on an academic scholarship. He was admitted to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with honors. Following business school at Stanford University, he began work at Morgan Stanley's technology investment banking group.

In 2003, Quattrone was confronted with evidence of allegedly incriminating emails in a widely publicized series of trials. The first trial resulted in a hung jury. The second trial resulted in a conviction. On appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed Quattrone's conviction, ruling, based in part upon the Supreme Court case Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States that Quattrone's jury had been given erroneous jury instructions. The appeals court also agreed with the defense that in the interest of justice, subsequent proceedings should take place in front of a different judge.

On August 22, 2006, Quattrone reached a deferred prosecution agreement and will not face prison time, "leading legal observers to label the agreement an exoneration." The National Association of Securities Dealers also dropped their charges. He now "plan to resume business career." According to reports, Mr. Quattrone will receive $100 million to $550 million in overdue compensation, so long as he abides by an agreement and does not break the law for a year. Credit Suisse already paid for Quattrone’s legal costs.

Since 2004, Frank Quattrone and his wife Denise have supported The Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) based at Santa Clara University School of Law. Quattrone is Chair of the NCIP Advisory Board and an active fund-raiser for the project. At the NCIP inaugural Justice for All Awards Dinner in March 2008, Quattrone accepted the Leadership Award. In his acceptance speech, he referred to his motivation for supporting the Innocence Project—that at the very moment he was found guilty of the government's charges, he realized that there must be other innocent people who were in prison but unlike him they lacked the resources to fight for justice.