Former Qwest executive Joe Nacchio has been indicted on 42 counts of insider trading by a federal grand jury according to KUSA television in Denver.
Prosecutors allege Nacchio-who served as chief executive officer of the telecom giant from 1997 to 2002-used insider information to sell stock before the price fell.Nacchio allegedly made about 50 million dollars on the trade.
During the time Nacchio headed Qwest he made 200 million dollars in compensation even as the company dropped in value and employees lost their jobs.
Nacchio and other former Qwest employees were sued by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission in March for fraudulently boosting company revenues by 3 billion dollars.
Nacchio is expected to make a court appearance in Denver later today.
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