Former Credit Suisse investment banker Frank Quattrone received a judge's approval to avoid another trial and return to finance as long as he does not break any US laws in the next 12 months, effectively marking the end of Quattrone's four-year battery of legal and regulatory troubles.

In a hearing that took no longer than 15 minutes, Judge George Daniels approved a deferred prosecution agreement that Quattrone's lawyers reached with prosecutors to bring about the end of United States v. Quattrone. Daniels questioned Quattrone to confirm the banker understood the deferred prosecution agreement.