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Ex-Qwest CEO Nacchio begins serving sentence for insider trading after losing appeals

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Former Qwest Communications CEO Joseph Nacchio on Tuesday began serving a six-year sentence for insider trading after the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied Monday his request to postpone imprisonment. Nacchio had argued that his surrender date should be delayed pending an appeal to the US Supreme Court. A three judge panel for the Tenth Circuit found that Nacchio had not met the criteria for release because, "the showing as to even the more lenient is insufficient: Mr. Nacchio has not shown that there is a reasonable chance that the Supreme Court will grant his petition." Nacchio also filed an emergency appeal with Supreme Court Justice Steven Breyer requesting that he be released on bail while the Court decides whether to hear his appeal. Breyer rejected the appeal without comment. Nacchio reported to the minimum security prison camp at FCI Schuylkill, marking an end to nearly two years of appellate proceedings following his April 2007 conviction for illegally selling $52 million of Qwest stock in 2001. Nacchio's conviction was overturned by a Tenth Circuit panel in March 2008 due to improperly excluded expert testimony, but was reinstated in a February 2009 en banc rehearing requested by the prosecution. Federal prosecutors indicted Nacchio in December 2005 on 42 counts of insider trading. He and other former Qwest executives still face civil fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on allegations that Qwest improperly reported approximately $3 billion in revenue that eased its 2000 merger with US West.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 14, 2009 (boomark / email).