Fergie's Tech Blog

Former Qwest CEO May Face Fraud Charges

Update:

An AP newswire article by Don Mitchell, via SFGate.com, reports that:

Joseph Nacchio, who was chief executive of Qwest Communications during its multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, was indicted Tuesday on 42 counts of insider trading.

The indictment is the first criminal charge against Nacchio in the government's nearly 4-year-old investigation into accounting practices at Qwest Communications International Inc., the Denver-based primary telephone service provider in 14 states.

The former chief executive of Qwest Communications International may be indicted by a federal grand jury as early as Tuesday for his role in profiting from the firm's overstated results at the tail end of the telecommunications boom, people familiar with the matter said.

Joseph Nacchio, who ran the regional telephone carrier as its stock price soared in 1999 and then into a scandal that saw it inflate revenues by $2 billion, could surrender to authorities in Denver and make his first court appearance on Tuesday, one person close to the Qwest investigation said.

posted by Fergie @ 12/20/2005 10:13:00 AM