The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Frank Quattrone, the investment banker whose Internet-boom success brought him huge wealth and star status in his industry, will return to court today for a second trial on obstruction-of-justice charges.

His first trial ended in a mistrial in October, with jurors deadlocked - but a majority leaning toward conviction - on charges that Quattrone tried to hinder a 2000 federal investigation into stock allocation by his bank.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan enter the retrial fresh off a victory in their highest-profile white-collar case - a conviction of Martha Stewart in March on charges of obstruction, conspiracy and lying to investigators.

In the Quattrone case, they must show that the banker acted with criminal intent Dec. 5, 2000, when he endorsed a colleague's e-mail that urged employees to "catch up on file cleaning" by destroying some files.

Quattrone says he was simply following the policy of his bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, which required routine destruction of some outdated documents.

The 48-year-old former banker is charged with obstruction of justice, obstructing the Securities and Exchange Commission and witness tampering.