Qwest Ex-CEO Nacchio Ordered to Prison

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Qwest Communications International ex-Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio to surrender to a federal prison next week, rejecting his bid to remain free while he pursues an appeal of his insider trading conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger ordered Nacchio to report to minimum security prison near Minersville, Pennsylvania on April 14 by noon to begin serving a six-year sentence.

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"The court finds that the defendant has not established a substantial question of fact or law... that there would be a reversal of his conviction, new trial or abrogation of his sentence," Krieger wrote in an opinion filed on Tuesday.

Nacchio's attorney could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Krieger previously had set March 23 as Nacchio's surrender date but set it aside while she reviewed his high court petition.

Nacchio's attorneys have said they would take his petition to remain free to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if Krieger denied it.

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Nacchio's attorney argued that he should be acquitted or given a new trial on the grounds that the trial court improperly excluded a key defense witness and because of errors made by the federal appeals court that reinstated Nacchio's conviction in February.

But Krieger wrote on Tuesday that "once a defendant has been convicted and sentenced, he has no presumptive right to remain free on bail."

Nacchio was convicted in 2007 of selling $52 million of his Qwest stock in 2001 while withholding from investors information that the telecommunications company would miss its financial targets.

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