Joseph Nacchio

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Joseph P. Nacchio (born June 22, 1949), in Brooklyn, New York, a one-time executive of AT&T, was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International from 1997 to 2002.

A 1970 graduate of the New York University Stern School of Business, Nacchio earned a Master's degree in Management (SM) as a Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1986. He also holds a BS and MBA from New York University.

Nacchio resigned from Qwest in June 2002 amidst insider trading rumors and was replaced by former Ameritech CEO Richard Notebaert.

1 Allegations of fraud
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Allegations of fraud

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.

Since his departure from Qwest in June 2002, Nacchio has been the object of a Department of Justice investigation. Sources familiar with the investigation have pointed to Spring 2001 when Nacchio sold stock. In its case, the government states 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. On his part, Nacchio maintains 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."

During the period in question Nacchio was serving on two federal advisory panels that dealt with such issues — 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.

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 charges 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.

The stock began a sharp decline in May 2001, falling below $2 by July 2002.