Was Qwest Punished For Not Spying?
Court Papers Suggest Convicted Exec’s Rejection Of Classified Project Led To Loss Of Gov’t Business
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Joe Nacchio, the former head of Qwest Communications, arrives at the federal courthouse in Denver prior to sentencing on July 27, 2007. According to court documents, he was not allowed to discuss during trial evidence of a classified government program he says was key to a loss of government contracts. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
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Interactive Risky Business Corporate America is finding itself in some sticky predicaments lately. Here are some dubious examples.
Details of the government's request were redacted in the documents released Wednesday. But last year, Nacchio's attorney Herbert Stern said the government asked for access to Qwest customers' phone records in 2001, with neither a warrant nor approval from a special court established to handle surveillance matters.
While AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. complied, Qwest refused after deciding the request violated privacy law, Stern has said.
In July 2001, the National Security Agency named other companies as recipients of a contract that Nacchio believed Qwest would get, the court documents said.
Nacchio was convicted last spring on 19 counts of insider trading. He was accused of selling $52 million in stock in 2001 based on nonpublic information that Qwest Communications International Inc. was having trouble meeting its financial targets.
Nacchio's lawyers contended he had classified information that led him to believe Qwest would win lucrative government contracts that would have bolstered Qwest's revenue. However, that argument was not mentioned at trial.
Court documents released Wednesday show Nacchio's lawyers had wanted to present those arguments, but alongside his refusal of the government request.
According to The Rocky Mountain News, Nacchio planned to demonstrate at trial that he had a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, at the National Security Agency’s headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., to discuss a $100 million project. According to the documents, another topic also was discussed at that meeting, one with which Nacchio refused to comply.
The topic itself is redacted each time it appears in the hundreds of pages of documents, but there is mention of Nacchio believing the request was both inappropriate and illegal, and repeatedly refusing to go along with it.
U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham would not allow Nacchio to present an argument on retaliation.
Nacchio's lawyers argued in the court documents that Nacchio couldn't fully explain what happened with the government contracts without presenting the retaliation argument.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear Nacchio's appeal Dec. 18.
Nacchio is free pending his appeal.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 44 CommentsPosted by fiteit1 at 10:32 PM : Oct 13, 2007
Good one !!!!! LOL
(But three rights make a left).
The government has every right to deny government contract to those who do not play ball.
What the heck does that have to do with this guy breaking the law. One does not beget the other. Put the guy away for the rest of his life...
Qwest would have a very good chance of getting government contracts if Sprint, and the rest of the big communication companies had denied the governments request...but they went for the money and said skew you customers.
Everybody plays politics and no one wins.
The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main reason for its warrantless surveillance efforts. Yet, here it seems that the government was trying to set up a surveillance program 7 months before the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Why?
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
and ya know, i''m tired of the mind-reading satellites
and the thought police.
Exactly how these fascists operate.
If you are not willing to wipe your @ss with the constitution for their benefit, they''ll punish you.
Slowly but Surely - Being Uncovered ! !
Lets not Forget - Those who have Supported them and Protected them -
The Justice Department and - The FBI
Lastdance
Posted by MCVet at 03:48 PM : Oct 13, 2007
GHEEEZ, what else is going to come out. See what they do when you don''t follow this fascist regime.Why can''t we file a class action against Bell South who is now AT&T for giving out private information without our permission?
Posted by likeitis5050 at 03:09 PM : Oct 13, 2007
+ report abuse
Now now. Let''s not start a debate about global warning here. I know it''s rough on you Nazi''s and I know you have completely run out of excuses and blame but you have to learn to live with it. You clowns can''t govern that is true but that isn''t new, it''s always been that way. So accept it, take your swastika and crawl back under that rock. You can crawl out again in a couple of generations when, yet again, America has forgotten just how bad you really are. Sieg Heil Y''all.
It was nice to read that article. But I don''''t think spying is anything new at all. Nor is it one-sided.
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Posted by hypnotoad72 at 06:11 PM : Oct 13, 2007
+ report abuse
Really? Well I was there when FISA was passed and guess what? It was DEMOCRATS who passed it. You are not just WRONG you are DEAD Wrong. Nixon was spying one anyone and everyone, without a court or anything else. So the law was passed, the law that the Little Nazi has ignored. Sieg Heil Bush!
It was nice to read that article. But I don''t think spying is anything new at all. Nor is it one-sided.
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