Another Giant Falls in Quattrone

But prosecutors told jurors it didn't matter that the initial investigation ended without any criminal charges being filed. What mattered was whether Quattrone had the intent in that Dec. 5, 2000 memo to interfere with the investigation.

With the Quattrone conviction, federal prosecutors are now 2-for-2 in corporate scandal trials. In March, domestic diva, Martha Stewart, was convicted of obstruction of justice and conspiracy. Prosecutors hope to score a trifecta in a few weeks when jurors begin deliberating in the corporate fraud trial involving several former Adelphia cable company executives.

The success of the federal prosecutors in the Quattrone and Stewart cases stands in contrast to the recent mistrial in the Tyco(TYC Quote) corruption trial in New York State court. A New York State judge declared a mistrial after six-months of testimony when the jurors were unable to reach a verdict.

Quattrone is the most significant Wall Street figure to face a prison term since Michael Milken, the king of the junk bonds, who went to jail in the early 1990s.

In the email in question, Quattrone reminded his underlings to "clean up their files," meaning they should destroy any unnecessary documents to avoid potential civil litigation. Quattrone's controversial email actually was a response to a longer email penned by one of his underlings, Richard Char.

In that message, Char reminded the technology investment banking team of the danger of keeping around unnecessary documents that might later be used against the firm in civil litigation.

After the email was sent out to the banking team, Quattrone chimed in with a one-sentence reply that, more or less, echoed Char's admonition.

Even before the jury's verdict, Quattrone's life on Wall Street seemed over. Last March, he resigned from CSFB just before prosecutors filed criminal charges against him. Also, earlier this year, a NASD hearing panel fined him $30,000 and suspended him from working on Wall Street for a year for failing to cooperate with an investigation.