Qwest ex-CEO gets 6 yrs prison for insider trading
Jim Swanson July 27th, 2007 - 9:20 pmBy Keith Coffman
Ain’t laughing now are ya, Mr. Nacchio? (see photo in article) - JS
DENVER (Reuters) - A federal judge sentenced the former chief executive of Qwest Communications International (Q.N), Joseph Nacchio, to six years in prison and ordered him to forfeit $52 million of insider trading gains on Friday.
The latest fallen U.S. corporate titan to be convicted of criminal financial abuse, Nacchio was also fined $19 million and ordered to prison while he appealed his conviction.
U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham, who said the case was about “overarching greed,” left Nacchio standing stunned at the end of the proceedings. The judge, after handing down the sentence, then denied the former telecommunications executive’s request to address the court and walked out.
Nacchio, 58, who wept and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief during the hearing, had declined an opportunity to speak to the judge prior to sentencing.
White-collar crime expert Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne State University Law School, called the financial part of the sentence “very substantial” and saw the Nacchio conviction as the latest in a series of government court successes.
“It is unprecedented in American history to see that many CEOs sent to jail in that many industries,” he said. Past government victories include convictions in the Enron (ECSPQ.PK) case against Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay last year following the collapse of the energy trader. Also, former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers was found guilty in 2005 of orchestrating a massive accounting fraud.
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July 27th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
And this was the one company who refused to turn over records to the NSA. Wonder if that has something to do with the sentence.