Joseph P. Nacchio (born June 22, 1949, in Brooklyn, New York), was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International from 1997 to 2002. He was convicted of 19 counts of insider trading in Qwest stock on April 19, 2007.[1] On July 27, 2007, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison. His federal register number is 33973-013.[2] Federal Judge Edward Nottingham also ordered Nacchio to pay a $19 million fine and forfeit $52 million he gained in illegal stock sales. As of October 15, 2007 he was free on bail, appealing his conviction on the basis that the U.S. government retaliated against Qwest for his refusal to give customer data to the National Security Agency.[3] On March 17, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned his conviction on the basis of defense expert witness testimony that was improperly excluded, and ordered a new trial before a different trial judge.[4] On February 25, 2009, Nacchio lost his appeal in a 5-4 ruling by the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals. He was ordered to immediately begin serving his six-year prison sentence. His defense team will now attempt to petition the United States Supreme Court.[5] Nacchio reported to the Federal Prison in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on April 14, 2009 to serve his sentence.[6]
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He is the son of a New York City longshoreman and bartender [1] and graduated in 1970 from New York University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. Later he earned an MBA from New York University and a Master's degree in Management (SM) as a Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1986.[7]
Nacchio joined Qwest in 1997 from AT&T.[8]
While Chairman, Nacchio was serving on two federal advisory panels — the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council and the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. He was Chairman of the latter and was given a top secret security clearance in the late 1990s.
During Nacchio's tenure as Qwest CEO, the company acquired US West.
Qwest stock began a sharp decline in May 2001, falling from $38 to below $2 by August 2002. Nacchio resigned from Qwest in June 2002 amid insider trading rumors and was replaced by former Ameritech CEO Richard Notebaert.
On March 15, 2005, Nacchio and six other former Qwest executives were sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They were accused of a "massive" $3 billion financial fraud between 1999 and 2002 and of benefiting from an inflated stock price.
In its case, the government stated that Nacchio continued to tell Wall Street that Qwest would be able to achieve aggressive revenue targets long after he knew that they could not be achieved. This helped it buy up regional phone rival US West, the government alleges[8] For his part, Nacchio maintained that he believed Qwest would soon be receiving several large government contracts. On November 21, 2005, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nacchio "believed Qwest was doing well because it was getting lucrative secret national-security-related work from the federal government." Nacchio claimed that he was not in a rightful state of mind when he sold his shares because of problems with his son, and the imminent announcement of a number of government contracts.
Nacchio was indicted on December 20, 2005 on insider trading charges in Denver, Colorado. He was forced to surrender his passport for fear that he would flee the country. The indictment against Nacchio charged him with 42 counts of insider trading. Each count carries a potential 10-year jail term and corresponds to a sale of Qwest shares, including a flurry in April–May 2001, when Nacchio sold almost $39 million in stock. At the time, Qwest was trading between $41.12 and $38.31.
Nacchio was convicted on 19 of 42 counts of insider trading case on April 19, 2007.[9] He was released on a $2 million bond. On July 27, 2007, Nacchio was sentenced to six years in federal prison. Federal Judge Edward Nottingham also ordered Nacchio to pay a $19 million fine and forfeit $52 million he gained in illegal stock sales. On March 17, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned his conviction on the basis of defense expert witness testimony that was improperly excluded, and ordered a new trial before a different trial judge. Nacchio's lead defense attorney is Maureen Mahoney.[4] On February 25, 2009, the full Tenth Circuit reversed the three-judge panel and reinstated the conviction and sentence.[10]
Nacchio surrendered April 14, 2009 to a federal prison camp in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania to begin serving a six-year sentence for the insider trading conviction. The United States Supreme Court denied bail pending appeal the same day.[11][12]
On October 5, 2009, the US Supreme Court denied certiorari, letting the conviction stand.[13]
Joseph P. Nacchio was the only head of a communications company to demand a court order, or approval under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, in order to turn over communications records to the U.S. government.[14][15]
Nacchio was granted a new trial due to a witness being prevented from testifying on this issue of illegal government spying[16].