Brokerage regulators permanently barred Frank Quattrone from working in the securities industry in any capacity on Monday, saying he displayed "egregious" conduct by refusing to testify in an agency investigation into his role in possible document destruction while at Credit Suisse First Boston.
The ruling by the National Association of Security Dealers, the brokerage industry's regulatory organization, overruled an earlier decision to fine Quattrone $30,000 and suspend him for a year.
The NASD said that Quattrone declined to testify as part of the group's inquiry because of pending state and federal investigations and argued that the Fifth Amendment prevented NASD from compelling him to testify.
In a news release, the group said it rejected these arguments and that his refusal "impeded an NASD investigation and undermined the NASD's ability to carry out its regulatory mandate."
A federal court convicted Quattrone in May of hindering an investigation into how Credit Suisse First Boston allocated shares in initial public offerings during the late-1990s by encouraging colleagues to destroy pertinent files. The banker has said he did not know the scope of the inquiry and that he was following company policy, which called for routine destruction of certain outdated documents. In October, an appeals court said Quattrone could postpone his 18-month prison sentence while he appeals the conviction.
