Former Qwest CEO Wins Appeal

Mark Ellis — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:33:32 +0000

Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio faced the wrong side of the law when he was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to six years in prison. However, Nacchio may soon find his sentence reduced due to his recent victory in a federal appeals court, in which the convicted executive successfully argued that there was a miscalculation.

In the ruling, the Denver-based appeals court found that the trial judge miscalculated Nacchio’s earnings from the illegal sales of his stock, which may have extended Nacchio’s sentence by several years. While the trial judge found Nacchio’s earnings to top $44.6 million, Nacchio argued that his earnings actually stand at around $1.8 million.

This miscalculation could end up bringing Nacchio down from a six-year sentence to a yet-to-be determined sentence that can be no longer than 4 1/3 years. According to the appeals court, the miscalculation stemmed from the district judge’s inability to separate Nacchio’s illegal earnings from his legitimate earnings, instead lumping them together and sentencing him unfairly.

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Former Qwest CEO Wins Appeal