Nacchio’s Conviction Tossed Out

Joe Nacchio won his appeal and a new trial as his six-year insider-trading sentence was thrown out on appeal.

The former Qwest CEO who oversaw $2 billion in bogus revenue bookings off capacity “swaps” and sold $52 million worth of stock ahead of a looming industry collapse, was granted another day in a court Monday. The 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a conviction reached in April of 19 counts of insider trading, saying Nacchio was not given a fair trail because a defense expert was not allowed to testify.

Nacchio, who has been out of jail on a $2 million bond awaiting appeal, was sentenced last year to six years in prison and told to pay $71 million in fines and forfeited gains.

Nacchio was fired in 2002, leaving the local phone giant teetering on the brink of insolvency. The new management team had to sell money-making assets like the directory business and layoff thousands of employees to stay afloat.

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What a load of BS this is. Nacchio was convicted, basically for selling stock and exercising expiring stock options before the industry crash in 2002. The accounting rules Qwest was following were industry standard rules condoned by accounting firms. This fed is applying insider trading in abusive ways as a sort of vindictive harassment of executives. It stinks.

Posted By Saratoga, CA : March 18, 2008 7:47 pm

I was a Qwest employee during this period. Nacchio is so guilty a five year old could understand why! The fact that we are further penalizing the taxpayers with this farce is completely obsurd. This is another symptom of the downfall of the American Empire.

Posted By Irvine, CA : March 18, 2008 4:12 pm

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