Ex-Qwest CEO Gets 6 Years

Nacchio's insider-trading penalty includes paying $71M
By Sam Biddle,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2007 5:43 PM CDT
Ex-Qwest CEO Gets 6 Years
Joe Nacchio, center, the former head of Qwest Communcations talks to his wife Anne, left, as he leaves the federal courthouse after he was sentenced in Denver, Colo., on Friday, July 27, 2007. Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison Friday for making $52 million in illegal stock sales while a multibillion-dollar...   (Associated Press)

Qwest's former CEO was sentenced to 6 years in prison today for engaging in insider trading while the company's stock plummeted. Joseph Nacchio committed "crimes of overarching greed,'' a federal judge in Denver said as he fined him $19 million in addition to the $52 million he must forfeit, then denied Nacchio's request for both probation and bail.

A jury convicted Nacchio, 58, on 19 counts of insider trading in a scandal that nearly brought down what was then the country's fourth-largest telecom. He was charged with selling $52 million worth of Qwest shares in just over a month in 2001 after he learned of impending revenue shortfalls. He declined comment as he left the courthouse. (More Qwest stories.)

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