Quattrone and his former firm Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) promoted and arranged Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) for many technology companies in the late 1990s.
According to regulators, Quattrone personally earned $200 million from mid-1998 to late-2001. But in mid-2000, investigations began on allegations that CSFB had improperly shared IPO profits with clients.
CSFB is not the only Wall Street firm to face such investigations, but no firm has actually been charged with a crime. CSFB reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in early 2002, without admitting any wrongdoing, and agreed to pay the sum of $100 million.
The only criminal charges to come out of the investigations were those against Quattrone. He was accused of sending an e-mail on 5th December 2000 urging colleagues to "clean up those files" – after learning that the files were to be investigated by regulators.
But the case appeared to depend on a two-line e-mail – and that was not enough to convince all the jurors. After six days of deliberations the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Prosecutors could attempt a retrial, but have not yet confirmed whether they want one. A hearing is scheduled for next week to resolve the issue.