DENVER, Oct. 12, 2007
Was Qwest Punished For Not Spying?
Court Papers Suggest Convicted Exec’s Rejection Of Classified Project Led To Loss Of Gov’t Business
-
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)
-
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.
More From U.S.
Add a Comment See all 44 Comments
- Boy, one day we will look back on these Bush years...and just like the Germans did after WWII, shake our heads and wonder--what in the hell came over us--to allow all that has happened to happen?
- Reply to this comment
- cia - kgb, nsa - gestopo, bush administration - sadam administration, bush - hitler. They all do the same thing but to differing degrees. For bush the philosophy is, if you cross the line just move it.
Posted by fiteit1 at 10:32 PM : Oct 13, 2007
Good one !!!!! LOL - Reply to this comment
- TWO WRONGS DON''T MAKE A RIGHT!
(But three rights make a left). - Reply to this comment
- Qwest had the right to deny access to the government, no problem at all.
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. - Reply to this comment
- The real story isn''t whether Qwest was punished for not spying.
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? - Reply to this comment
- "When everything is secret, everything is legal."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com - Reply to this comment
- Seems like every day that goes by, someone else comes along with another disturbing story about the un-American and unconstitutional activities of the moron-in-chief and his henchmen. At some point, we have to seriously worry about the ability of the US to continue as a functioning democracy - to the extent it is - with this kind of thing going on, and no-one being held accountable.
- Reply to this comment
- cia - kgb, nsa - gestopo, bush administration - sadam administration, bush - hitler. They all do the same thing but to differing degrees. For bush the philosophy is, if you cross the line just move it.
- Reply to this comment
- black helicopters came by to visit me too.
and ya know, i''m tired of the mind-reading satellites
and the thought police. - Reply to this comment
Exactly how these fascists operate.
If you are not willing to wipe your @ss with the constitution for their benefit, they''ll punish you.- Reply to this comment
International recording artist Shakira on love, career and more.
