Reportedly, a federal grand jury is currently investigation Duke's accounting practices during the period.
Ex-CSFB Banker Charged
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday arrested Credit Suisse First Boston investment banker Frank Quattrone, charging him with obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
At the heart of the obstruction of justice charge is an e-mail Quattrone sent during a December 2000 investigation that reportedly encouraged his subordinates to "clean up" their files. Prosecutors claim that he learned two days before the December 5 message that a federal grand jury and the SEC had asked for documents in those files.
Hundreds of computer files stored in directories related to IPOs underwritten by CSFB were deleted during the period in question, according to a Reuters account of the complaint.
In response to sending the e-mail, lawyers claim Quattrone was following the document retention policies in force for his group at CSFB. "He did not destroy any documents nor improperly direct others to do so," they reportedly noted in a statement when he resigned from CSFB last month.
Quattrone once ran CSFB's California-based global technology group, in which he secured high-flying tech IPOs for his employer. These days, Wall Street investment banks are under increasing scrutiny for allegedly issuing biased research and awarding shares in hot IPOs to win business from competitors.
In the wake of the new charges, Quattrone declined comment, according to an Associated Press report. The most serious charge apparently carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Quattrone maintains his innocence.
Golden Parachutes Still Golden at GE
General Electric Co. investors narrowly defeated a resolution at the company's annual meeting that was designed to subject executive compensation packages to greater scrutiny. This, despite a public outcry last year over former Chairman Jack Welsh's retirement package.
The executive severance proposal was defeated 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent. Last year, the measure reportedly received 39 percent of the votes counted. It specifically urged shareholder approval of future severance agreements when they award benefits that exceed 2.99 times the sum of the executive's base salary and bonus.
A proposal by Amalgamated's LongView Collective Fund to link executive stock options to economic performance standards was defeated 84.9 percent to 15.1 percent, the Associated Press reports. LongView owns 3.8 million GE shares.
Investors of Tyco International, another company in the diversified manufacturing arena, have managed in recent weeks to get measures passed that would curb executive severance packages, according to reports.
Reader Comments» Post a comment