Qwest CEO seeks judgment in SEC complaint

DENVER - Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio asked a judge Tuesday to decide in his favor in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, saying the company's stock plunge was the result of a telecommunications industry meltdown, not financial fraud.

In a separate filing Tuesday, SEC attorneys said insider trading allegations included in the lawsuit have already been proven in Nacchio's criminal case and asked a judge for summary judgment.

The SEC lawsuit, filed in 2005, alleges that actions by Nacchio and other former Qwest Communications International Inc. executives allowed the Denver-based company to improperly report revenue.

Two former accountants responsible for preparing Qwest financial statements have also asked a judge for summary judgment, saying they did not have final authority over the statements' contents.

Nacchio argued in his motion, also filed Tuesday in federal court in Denver, that Qwest's stock plunged 87 percent from its high by March 2002, during which time the NASDAQ Telecommunications Index lost 86 percent of its value.

A hearing on the motions for summary judgment has not been scheduled.

Nacchio was convicted in April 2007 of insider trading and is serving a six-year sentence at the minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution Schuylkill satellite camp in Minersville, Pa.

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