The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Associated Press In this April 17, 2007 file photo, former Qwest Communications CEO Joe Nacchio and his wife, Anne, walk to the federal courthouse in Denver. A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated Nacchio's insider trading conviction and said he could be ordered to begin serving a 6-year prison sentence. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, file)

DENVER (AP) - A judge ordered former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio to report to a federal prison in Pennsylvania on March 23 to begin serving a six-year term for insider trading.

U.S. District Judge Marcia S. Krieger on Wednesday told Nacchio to report to the minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution Schuylkill satellite camp in Minersville, Pa.

A jury convicted Nacchio in 2007 of 19 counts of insider trading while acquitting him on 23 counts of the same charge.

Federal prosecutors alleged Nacchio sold $52 million worth of stock at a time when he knew Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. was at risk while other investors did not.

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in a 2-1 ruling, saying the trial judge improperly barred a defense expert from testifying. The full appeals court last week disagreed and upheld Nacchio's conviction. The full court ruled 5-4 that the judge was within his discretion.

Nacchio's attorney, Maureen Mahoney, has indicated an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is likely. Nacchio also has challenged his sentence.

Mahoney was in a meeting Wednesday afternoon and did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Nacchio still faces a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has accused Nacchio and four other former Qwest employees of financial fraud that forced the telecommunications company to restate $2.2 billion of revenue.

Qwest is the primary telephone service provider in 14 mostly western states.

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