By Marcy Gordon, Associated Press:
In the years following the wave of corporate scandals that began with Enron in late 2001, prosecutors have brought a string of major financial-fraud cases. Yet the government has had setbacks recently.
Former star investment banker Frank Quattrone struck a deal this week to dismiss his long criminal case and won the right to resume a career in finance.
A federal judge in New York ruled last month that prosecutors used excessive economic pressure to coerce two partners at the big accounting firm KPMG into cooperating in an investigation of illegal tax shelters.
A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Aug. 1 overturned fraud and conspiracy convictions against four former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives who participated in a sham 1999 deal that allowed Enron to book bogus profits.
