The One Telco Exec Who Resisted The NSA Has Been Released From 4+ Years In Jail

[unhappycamper]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130927/14413024680/one-telco-exec-who-resisted-nsa-has-been-released-4-years-jail.shtml

The One Telco Exec Who Resisted The NSA Has Been Released From 4+ Years In Jail
from the tell-it-like-it-is dept

If you were around during the reign of Joe Nacchio at Qwest, you already should be aware that he was not particularly well-liked. He was brash and obnoxious and often rubbed people the wrong way. There's a famous story, for example, of him calling up an executive at US West, a company that Qwest bought, which had a building directly across the street from Qwest's headquarters. Moments after the buyout closed, Nacchio got the exec on the phone and supposedly told him he had 15 minutes to change the sign on the building from US West to Qwest. Qwest collapsed in a somewhat spectacular manner not long after that, with some comparing it to the Enron collapse -- a lot of hype and stock pumping built on very little substance. A few years later, Nacchio was famously convicted of insider trading -- and certainly many people who had witnessed his earlier antics reveled in that result.

However, it was only later that it started to come out that Nacchio was alone among all of the major telco execs to tell the NSA to get lost when they came calling, demanding the ability to basically tap Qwest's entire network. For years, Nacchio has insisted that the entire lawsuit against him was retaliation for his refusal. When he first made those claims, it sounded far fetched and ridiculous. However, in the intervening years, as more and more details of the NSA's activities have become clear, Nacchio's initial arguments seem a hell of a lot more plausible.

It turns out that Nacchio was just released from prison after his 54 month sentence was completed. The WSJ has an odd but entertaining (and unfortunately paywalled -- though, you can get around it if you Google the title) article about his life in prison, where he apparently came out much healthier than he went in (lots of exercise) and is now best buddies with some former drug dealers who had his back in prison. One of whom, who goes by the name Spoonie, calls Nacchio "Joe-ski-luv" and says that they're best friends. "If he ever needs a lung or a bone, I'm there." Right.

~snip~

I would imagine that Nacchio could add quite a bit of useful information to the ongoing debate. And, in fact, it appears he intends to do so, with plans to write a book about "Americans' loss of liberty based on his experiences with the NSA and other government agencies." I look forward to reading it.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[annabanana]

2. "it was only later that it started to come out". . Funny, I seem to remember Quest's

reluctance in real time while the story was first coming out... Oh wait.. That was just here

[leveymg]

26. You remember these events (so do I) because it was a subject we wanted to know about. Not so for

most people with careers in the media and industry who were basically okay with Bush's GWOT because it didn't effect them much (or actually helped a lot of careers and some people to get filthy rich). But, I wasn't rich then, and I'm sure as hell am not now. Are you?

Most of the establishment media only took interest in the Qwest insider-trading scandal because it allegedly cheated investors.

I'll keep an ear out for Nacchio. Bet he has some great stories to tell.

[DrDan]

3. I remember Nacchio from his days at AT&T

he was a free-wheeling, take-no-prisoners, out-of-control sales guy. Rules and regulations (and laws) were there to be broken. It is no wonder (to me) that he was convicted of insider trading.

No doubt about his side-of-the-aisle.

[annabanana]

4. Should be cross-posted to GD. . .n/t

[BillyRibs]

5. What do you Know,

Another CT exposed as actual truth, Who would have guessed? I would have, this guy gave the NSA Hell!

Why call me a Troll, and Plant a tin foil hat om my pea brain! (sarcasm)

[Demeter]

6. A lot of sanctimonious SOBs here and abroad are eating crow, these days

You don't have to be paranoid to realize they ARE out to get you, and your little dog, too!

[Egnever]

12. LOL

[geek tragedy]

11. No, it's still a bogus CT. He was and is a crook, an insder-trading, cheating 1%er who's

trying to hide behind legitimate issues.

[DrDan]

13. bingo - he has ONE focus . . . fill his pockets

[Poll_Blind]

7. K&R! nt

PB

[Dr Hobbitstein]

8. Wasn't he jailed for insider trading?

Just because he "claims" it was because of refusing NSA surveillance, doesn't make it so.
He declined the NSA request in 2001. He was indicted in 2005. If it were retaliation, don't you think it would have happened when he was still employed by Qwest (he resigned in 2002)?

[JustAnotherGen]

16. Not only that

He was a part of the Glotanic (Global Crossing) swaps. Qwest - 360 - etc. etc. those were 'golden boys' and girls who we were told specifically not to bill.

He's a cheat and right up there with John Letcher (Legere) and Gary Winnick as far as I'm concerned. They are all always and forever dirt bags in my book that stole money from hard working employees and have all just skated on merrily with their lives.

[geek tragedy]

9. Nacchio is a crook, and he's using the NSA as a cover story for his corruption and lack

of basic competence as a CEO. Virtually everything he got fired for was before any resistance to NSA stuff,

[rhett o rick]

17. No one is arguing that Nacchio is a good guy. But the evidence indicates that his resistance to

bowing before the NSA may have precipitated the prosecution. Just because he was a "crook" doesnt mean he wasnt targeted for prosecution.

"Virtually everything he got fired for was before any resistance to NSA stuff". What difference does it make when the stuff happened?

Is it me, or do you often defend the NSA?

[geek tragedy]

18. It's you. It would have been a scandal

if they didn't prosecute his lying, cheating ass.

He lied about the company's earnings, then backdated his stock sales while trying to dump the stock.

Textbook insider trading case.

[rhett o rick]

20. Yes and Gov Spitzer was guilty of hiring a prostitute. They are not the only

ones guilty of their crimes. But most likely targeted.

Conservatives love to say, "if you're not guilty, you have nothing to worry about the government spying on you." While that's true, it does allow the "government" to pick and choose who they target. How many Republican's hire prostitutes and how many CEO's are corrupt?

It isnt that he is innocent, it's that he was likely targeted because he didnt play ball with the most powerful agency in the world, the NSA/CIA.

[geek tragedy]

21. No, it's that his lies were so public and so brazen and that Qwest failed so spectacularly

under him while he was paying himself $500 million. He dumped $52 million of his own stock while bragging about how the company's earnings would improve, at the same time everyone inside the company was saying they were going to get worse.

He was fired in 2002 for ruining the company. He was the golden boy of oligarch Philip Anschutz.

There was no reason to not prosecute him after the USG prosecuted the Enron guys.

[rhett o rick]

22. Why wasnt Anschutz prosecuted? nm

[geek tragedy]

23. There was no evidence he violated federal securties laws. Nacchio was the one

who blatantly enriched himself at the expense of shareholders he lied to.

[Downwinder]

19. Makes you wonder if the other crooks (Wall Street) that have been

given carte blanche bowed to NSA.

[Historic NY]

10. It was in the news in 2007...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html

[thelordofhell]

14. Joe Nacchio is NOT a misunderstood hero

He is a slimy, no good, talking out of his ass, insider trading, scumbag of a man.........and he was the point man for an equally corrupt, but got off scott free, Phillip Anschultz.

[geek tragedy]

15. Yup.

Nonetheless, prosecutors said, Mr. Nacchio continually affirmed a bright financial forecast to analysts, even as the chorus of admonitions from other Qwest executives grew. Finally, in 2001, when he realized Qwest was facing a significant shortfall, prosecutors said, Mr. Nacchio began unloading his stock options, while still publicly proclaiming the company’s good fortunes. Mr. Nacchio even backdated the sale of the stock to make it appear unrelated to Qwest’s downturn, prosecutors contended.

Mr. Stern argued that Mr. Nacchio had derived his projections from a report compiled by a consulting firm hired to assess the merger of Qwest and US West in 1999. There was no way Mr. Nacchio could have foreseen a recession in the market, Mr. Stern said.

The defense called three witnesses, one of them Philip F. Anschutz, Qwest’s founder. Mr. Anschutz testified that Mr. Nacchio had come to him despondent over the attempted suicide of one of his sons and wanted to resign, an indication of the enormous pressure Mr. Nacchio was under at the time of the stock sales, the defense said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/technology/20qwest.html?ex=1334721600&en=f32519303dad5d0f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

[Dr Hobbitstein]

24. But he stood up to the NSA, so that makes him a hero...

Or something like that... NeoDU is really bass ackwards sometimes...

, if that was actually needed...

[leveymg]

27. Anschultz is up there with the Koch. He could buy a better outcome than Nacchio or Spitzer

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/09/30/daily9.html
Sep 30, 2002, 4:09pm
Anschutz, Nacchio reportedly sued by N.Y. attorney general

The New York attorney general is suing Qwest Chairman Philip Anschutz and former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, along with three other telecom executives, for taking millions in profits from IPOs without disclosing potential conflicts of interest, according to the Associated Press.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer claims Qwest Communications International Inc., WorldCom Inc., Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. and McLeodUSA Inc. steered underwriting business to Salomon Smith Barney in exchange for giving executives access to lucrative IPO shares. Once the IPO share prices soared, the stocks were often sold, resulting in millions of dollars of profits for the executives, the AP story stated.

The deal presumed that Salomon Smith Barney would deliver favorable stock ratings for the executives' companies as an enticement and reward for obtaining the investment banking business, the story stated.

The suit also accuses former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, Metromedia Fiber Chairman Stephen Garofalo and former McLeodUSA CEO Clark McLeod of failing to disclose the relationship.

The suit, according to the AP, claims Anschutz earned $5 million, and Nacchio earned more than $1 million.

[indepat]

25. Big brother will not shirk from f*cking over anyone who does not play ball with the establishment