WASHINGTON – Lawyers for Frank Quattrone (search) Wednesday accused the NASD (search) of violating the former star investment banker's rights in banning him for life from the securities industry.
The lawyers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (search) to overturn the ban, saying the NASD, which regulates brokerages, had no right to force Quattrone to testify against himself under the Fifth Amendment.
As a regulator with quasi-governmental status, NASD must observe the same Fifth Amendment (search) rights that governmental bodies do, Quattrone's attorneys argued.
Quattrone is already appealing his May 2004 jury conviction and 18-month jail sentence for three counts of obstruction of justice and witness tampering. The conviction carried with it a 10-year ban from the securities industry.
Quattrone was charged after investigators probed whether he knew of regulatory investigations into initial public offering practices during the tech stock bubble when he told colleagues in a December 2000 e-mail that it was "time to clean up those files."
Quattrone has said that he was following bank policy in urging destruction of outdated documents.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment.
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