White-Collar Woes
By Mark Gimein

(FORTUNE Magazine) – For two years former star CSFB banker Frank Quattrone has been in the cross hairs of regulators for allegedly pressuring analysts and doling out cheap IPO shares to favored clients. Last week federal prosecutors finally made their move: one lone charge of obstruction of justice.

What tax evasion was to Al Capone, obstruction is to today's white-collar-crime suspects. Accounting firm Arthur Andersen was brought down by one charge of obstruction, and the linchpin of the government's case was former Enron auditor David Duncan, who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice himself. Investigators probing Martha Stewart's stock trading are reportedly contemplating obstruction charges. And a charge of obstruction got Bill Clinton impeached.

"This is absolutely classic," says Columbia Law School securities expert John Coffee of the Quattrone charges. "Most white-collar criminals get prosecuted...for mistakes they make once the investigation begins."

The case against Quattrone rests largely on one e-mail in which he reminded his team of CSFB's "document retention" (ahem...) policy. Quattrone's lawyer says his client is innocent. The bad news about obstruction cases: Neither conviction nor acquittal will answer the questions that prompted the investigation in the first place. --Mark Gimein