Summarized -- Ex-Chief of Qwest Is Indicted - New York Times

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/business/21qwest.html

Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications  
International, had been indicted on charges of insider trading  
involving stock sales worth more than $100 million.

The indictment lists 42 counts against Mr. Nacchio involving sales of  
more than 2.5 million shares of Qwest stock in the first half of  
2001.  During that time, Mr. Nacchio knew that his company was in  
danger of missing its financial targets, according to the indictment  
announced by federal prosecutors in Denver, where Qwest has its  
headquarters.

"Beginning as early as August 2000, Nacchio was specifically and  
repeatedly warned about the material, nonpublic financial risks  
facing Qwest and about Qwest's ability to achieve its aggressive  
publicly stated financial targets," the prosecutors said in the  
indictment, the culmination of a three-year investigation.

...Mr. Nacchio's indictment is the latest in a series of charges  
brought against former executives accused of misleading investors  
about their companies' financial condition.

..."Insider trading is a crime as we've said in the past and it's  
important for corporate executives to recognize that when they are in  
possession of information that the public is not, they are under a  
duty to abstain from trading, buying or selling stock during that  
time," William Leone, the government's lead attorney, told reporters  
in Denver.

...In March, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Mr. Nacchio  
and other former Qwest executives, accusing them of overstating $3  
billion in revenue from 1999 to 2002.

...Federal prosecutors in Denver have persuaded several other former  
Qwest executives to plead guilty, and they have also cooperated with  
the government's investigation.  One of them, the former chief  
financial officer, Robin Szeliga, pleaded guilty to insider trading  
and is awaiting sentencing.

...Qwest, the dominant local phone company in 14 Western states,  
agreed last month to pay $400 million to shareholders who sued the  
company after it restated billions of dollars of revenue between 1999  
and 2002.  The settlement, which is subject to court approval, would  
resolve claims against Qwest, its board and former executives, except  
Mr. Nacchio and Robert S.

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