TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?

[L. Coyote]

Over two years ago, my informant reported ALL communications ARE routed overseas to circumvent the law.

Is that what is being covered up, the ongoing capture of ALL communications? Probably!
Can the government look up that favorite apple pie recipe your Mom sent you on July 4th in 2002.

Is the "cover story" of databasing call info just that, the current fall-back cover
story for a much larger crime, spying on everyone all the time?
The political odor of this legal case has never been proper.

I noticed the issue first arise on DU with the USA firings discussion.
* Justice Weighed Firing 1 in 4 - 26 Prosecutors Were Listed As Candidates
* http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2848874

Given the importance of the current telecom immunity debate and all the Bush LIES,
I am pasting up this tread now from the Archive, hoping other researchers can add new data.
Archive: Oct-15-07 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2051298

Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?
BY Scott Horton - Oct 14, 2007
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/10/hbc-90001415

Last week, a career federal prosecutor friend told me, “Most of us have come to agree that there’s a real problem with political prosecutions on Bush’s watch, and that needs to be addressed, but you need to remind your readers that this is something truly exceptional and that the great mass of cases involve the normal functioning of the law enforcement system, with career professionals who are detached from political considerations.” For the record, I believe that’s true. I’m not sure how widespread the phenomenon of political prosecution is. I believe that it is no longer a question of “whether” such prosecutions have been brought—that’s now very well established. How widespread is this phenomenon? That’s an important question and the answers are unclear.

And this weekend more information has surfaced which would show the practice to be far more common that I first suspected. Last year, a Colorado lawyer told me that I should look at the insider trading litigation surrounding Qwest CEO Joseph P. Nacchio—there was strong evidence in that case of tawdry politics on the prosecution side. Of course, I knew that Nacchio was the only major telecom executive who refused to play ball with the administration on warrantless surveillance. But I did take a look at the case, and I didn’t see the evidence that was suggested.

But as of this morning, I have to admit that I misjudged the situation. It seems that the evidence was lacking because the trial judge suppressed it, not because it didn’t exist. There was a major account in yesterday’s Washington Post, and this morning in the New York Times. These accounts all stack up. Here’s Scott Shane’s summary for the Times:

The phone company Qwest Communications refused a proposal from the National Security Agency that the company’s lawyers considered illegal in February 2001, ......

Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm
Qwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says
By Ellen Nakashima and Dan Eggen - Oct 13, 2007; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.

Details about the alleged NSA program have been redacted from the documents, but Nacchio's lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records.

In the court filings disclosed this week, Nacchio suggests that Qwest's refusal to take part in that program led the government to cancel a separate, lucrative contract with the NSA in retribution. He is using the allegation to try to show why his stock sale should not have been considered improper.

Former Phone Chief Says Spy Agency Sought Surveillance Help Before 9/11 -
By SCOTT SHANE - Oct 14, 2007 - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/business/14qwest.html?_r=2&ex=1350014400&en=d79ceb4f4ce279b1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

The phone company Qwest Communications refused a proposal from the National Security Agency that the company’s lawyers considered illegal in February 2001, nearly seven months before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, .....

The filings were made as Mr. Nacchio fought charges of insider trading. He was ultimately convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading and has been sentenced to six years in prison. He remains free while appealing the conviction.

Mr. Nacchio said last year that he had refused an N.S.A. request for customers’ call records in late 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, as the agency initiated domestic surveillance and data mining programs to monitor Al Qaeda communications.

But the documents unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Denver, first reported in The Rocky Mountain News on Thursday, claim for the first time that pressure on the company to participate in activities it saw as improper came as early as February, nearly seven months before the terrorist attacks.

...............

Joe Nacchio and SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance)
By J. Robert Brown, Jr., University of Denver Sturm College of Law, April 25, 2007
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/corpgov/2007/04/25/joe-nacchio-and-sox/#more-98

I offer in this post some personal observations on the trial and conviction of Joe Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest Communications, as well as some thoughts about the impact of SOX. The Race to the Bottom has blogged the entire trial, with students or faculty attending all of the sessions. .....

...........had Nacchio had the benefits of SOX, it is unlikely that he would have been convicted of insider trading. Instead, he now faces as much as 15 years in prison for his offenses.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act

Conyers: Tell Us More = to Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell
By Paul Kiel - Oct 15, 2007 - http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004459.php

Joseph Nacchio, the former CEO of Qwest Communications, delivered a pair of twin bombshells (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/business/14qwest.html... ) last week, when he asserted in a court filing that the National Security Agency had approached Qwest six months before 9/11 about participating in a legally dubious program, and that after the company declined, the administration yanked hundreds of millions in government contracts.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers' (D-MI) eyebrows are firmly in the raised position. So today he wrote (http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=849 ) Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and senior Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein, who both testified (http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004222.php ) before his committee last month, to inquire: "I ask that you provide the Committee with an immediate briefing on the facts behind these recent revelations, and that you then provide us with any documents concerning the nature and scope of these pre-9/11 activities and the legal basis for conducting them."

Ex-Qwest Chief Nacchio Says NSA Punished The Phone Company

In a court appeal, ex-Qwest executive Joseph P. Nacchio says the company was in line to get lucrative NSA work, but was rejected after Qwest raised questions about the legality of some of the agency's work.
By W. David Gardner - InformationWeek - Oct 15, 2007 - http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202402895

Meetings held before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks between officials of the National Security Agency and executives of Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) International are taking on new significance as Qwest's former chief executive fights a conviction and as Congress debates the NSA's surveillance methods.

Ex-Qwest executive Joseph P. Nacchio, who has been convicted of insider stock trading charges, cites the meetings to back up his argument that Qwest was in line to get lucrative NSA work but was rejected after Qwest raised questions about the legality of some NSA work. If the NSA work had been awarded, as Nacchio anticipated, it would have helped the company's finances, Qwest's stock would have held up better, and Nacchio wouldn't have been criticized so intensely for selling stock.

The meetings are cited by Nacchio in his appeal to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that attempts to reverse a jury verdict for insider trading. Nacchio's attorney, Maureen Mahoney, argued that Nacchio was unfairly handcuffed regarding the government contracts; Nacchio has complained for several months that he couldn't discuss the contracts during the trial, because they involved classified information.

However, while much of the information remains classified, some new information was revealed ..........

Nacchio affects spy probe = NSA sought to use Qwest fiber optics in 1997.
His court filings point to government surveillance months before 9/11
By Andy Vuong, Denver Post, 10/20/2007 - http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_7230967

..... Nacchio alleges the National Security Agency asked Qwest to participate in a program the phone company thought was illegal more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks .....

.....recently unsealed documents push that time frame back to February 2001 and indicate the NSA may have also sought to monitor customers' Internet traffic and fax transmissions. ... .... said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil-liberties group.

"The fact that these materials suggest that cooperation with the program was tied to the award of certain government contracts also contradicts their (phone companies') claims that they were simply acting in good faith to help fight the terrorists when it appears that they may have been motivated by financial concerns instead," Bankston said. ....

"This is, sooner or later, going to be the stuff of congressional hearings because a new starting point has been established for this controversy. A new starting point seven months before 9/11," said Ron Suskind, author of "The One Percent Doctrine," which reported examples of how companies worked with the government in its fight against terrorism after Sept. 11.

"The idea that deals were getting cut between the government and telecom companies in secret in the early part of 2001 creates a whole new discussion as to intent, motivation and goals of the government," Suskind said. ......

Nacchio's connections to top-secret agencies date back to late 1997, according to court documents filed in 2000 and early 2001 and unsealed this month.

The first meeting Nacchio had with officials from a clandestine agency - including a three-star lieutenant general - was at Qwest's offices in Denver. The officials sought to use Qwest's fiber-optic communications network for government purposes. .......

[L. Coyote]

1. Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?

Are ALL COMMUNICATIONS routed overseas to circumvent US law and the Constitution?

I was told years ago that ALL fiber optic communication traffic was routed overseas so that "everything" was moved outside the protections of the law and Constitution and ANYTHING could be monitored. I thought the idea quite fantastic even though it came from a very reliable source that would know exactly such things. Then, the story of the fiber optic splitters hit my radar. I now see now how easily exactly that, routing ALL COMMUNICATIONS overseas, was accomplished.

Is this Bush's and the Telecom's HUGE crime hidden and covered-up behind this story?
If the telecoms get immunity, will it aid in covering up Bush's crime.
ABSOLUTELY! That is why it is so important to the Rs!

Supporting telecom immunity = obstruction of justice.

Have we arrived at the point in the history of the Bushco junta where
laws passed and people nominated are part of crimes of obstructing justice?

AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
By Spencer Ackerman - Nov 7, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004662.php

Earlier today we flagged that Mark Klein, who uncovered a secret surveillance room run by the NSA while employed as a San Francisco-based technician for AT&T, is in Washington to lobby against granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies. In an interview this afternoon, Klein explained why he traveled all the way from San Francisco to lobby Senators about the issue: if the immunity provision passes, Americans may never know how extensive the surveillance program was -- or how deeply their privacy may have been invaded.

"The president has not presented this truthfully," said Klein, a 62-year old retiree. "He said it was about a few people making calls to the Mideast. But I know this physical equipment. It copies everything. There's no selection of anything, at all -- the splitter copies entire data streams from the internet, phone conversations, e-mail, web-browsing. Everything."

What Klein unearthed -- you can read it here -- points to a nearly unbounded surveillance program. Its very location in San Francisco suggests that the program was "massively domestic" in its focus, he said. "If they really meant what they say about only wanting international stuff, you wouldn't want it in San Francisco or Atlanta. You'd want to be closer to the border where the lines come in from the ocean so you pick up international calls. You only do it in San Francisco if you want domestic stuff. The location of this stuff contradicts their story .....

from Nov-09-07 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2245762

[L. Coyote]

16. National Security cover-up for "secret business dealings with clandestine government agenies...."

SEC to review its Qwest lawsuit
AFX News Limited - 02.04.08, 9:02 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/02/04/afx4613362.html


DENVER (AP) - Federal regulators agreed Monday to review and perhaps streamline their civil fraud lawsuit against former Qwest executives so the allegations would not involve the company's secret business dealings with clandestine government agencies.

During a federal court hearing, Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Polly Atkinson said the bulk of the charges against former Chief Executive Officer Joe Nacchio and four others rely on historical data, not prospective government contracts.

However, she agreed to review the lawsuit at U.S. Magistrate Craig Shaffer's request. Shaffer gave the SEC 30 days for the review.

The judge's comments came as he considered a request from the Justice Department to prohibit the release of material related to secret Qwest negotiations, arguing that it would jeopardize national security. ..........

[L. Coyote]

62. EFF: NSA Spying = "FISA prohibits unauthorized electronic surveillance"

NSA Spying
http://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying


In 2005, Americans learned that the President authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to wiretap phone and email communications involving United States persons within the U.S. without obtaining a warrant or court order pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA). FISA prohibits unauthorized electronic surveillance. Shortly afterwards Americans also learned that the major telecoms participated in warrantless surveillance, handing over billions of their customers private communications and communications records. EFF later developed specific, undisputed whistleblower evidence demonstrating AT&T's direct participation in the warrantless surveillance by diverting its customer communications to the NSA.

EFF believes the warrantless surveillance violates the Fourth Amendment, FISA, the Wiretap Act, and most likely the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Moreover, it is neither authorized nor justified by the Constitutional power of the executive.

EFF filed the first case against a telecom arising from the warrantless surveillance, called Hepting v. AT&T. This page collects information about the Hepting case, as well as about the nearly 40 legal cases that have arisen from the warrantless surveillance ......

...........

==================
Take Action: Stop the spying! = http://stopthespying.org/
Stop the Amnesty = http://www.eff.org/nsa

[L. Coyote]

2. VIDEO: "My judgement happens to be the Will of the People." Bush Jr.

Is this man delusional, a bold-faced liar, or just a "bad talker"?

President Bush Press Conference on FISA = 2008.02.28
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x98587

[midnight]

3. Thank you for bringing this topic here. It is just so hard to

understand how only one communications co. believes in the consitution. I think jr. says what he hears.

[L. Coyote]

7. Consider the money involved. How much did we pay for the illegal spying?

Bush paid the telecoms to illegally spy for the Bush Junta!

That too is criminal, and adds lots of counts to the crime list, defrauding the government.
In essense, there was a criminal conspiracy to misappropriate funds to carry out illegal conduct.

[L. Coyote]

4. TPM: Today's Must Read = "protect the telecoms"

Today's Must Read
By Paul Kiel - February 28, 2008, 9:49AM - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/todays_must_read_285.php

You can understand their exasperation. The administration and Congressional Republicans have done everything in their power to protect the telecoms. They used every legislative tactic (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/01/gop_bid_to_block_amendments_on.php) at the ready, made every speech or public pronouncement possible (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/bush_beats_drum_again.php), and even engaged in occasional theatrics (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/house_gop_stages_walkout_durin.php) to drive the point home: Congress will not be passing, and the President will not be signing, any surveillance bill into law that does not give the telecoms retroactive immunity for having helped the administration break the law.

And despite all that, the telecoms still seem not to understand which side their bread is buttered on. "GOP leadership aides are grumbling that their party isn’t getting more political money from the telecommunications industry," Roll Call reports (sub. req.): ...

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_100/news/22299-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

.......... the House Republican campaign committee, Roll Call points out, is $29 million poorer than its Democratic counterpart. How are the Republicans supposed to return to power if they can't even convince companies whom they're working to protect from billions of dollars in lawsuits to pony up?

Perhaps, as one GOP leadership aide puts it, the telecoms will find religion again when they realize “these guys are not good for business.”

[williesgirl]

5. k&r

[L. Coyote]

39. "

[L. Coyote]

45. "

[L. Coyote]

6. VIDEO (18:02): Interview: AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Bush's Illegal Surveillance

Interview: AT&T Whistleblower Mark Klein on Bush's Illegal Surveillance and Retroactive Immunity
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x68900

From: SenatorDodd = Added: Nov 08, 2007
Dodd campaign blogger Matt Browner Hamlin interviews AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein on domestic surveillance and retroactive immunity.

REC at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0dJJhLueEg

[L. Coyote]

8. TIME - 2008.02.29: Behind the Wiretapping Immunity Fight

Behind the Wiretapping Immunity Fight
By MASSIMO CALABRESI/WASHINGTON - 2008.02.29 - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1718436,00.html


President George W. Bush warned on Thursday that U.S. telephone companies won't help the government in the war on terror if they are facing lawsuits from Americans who claim to have been spied on. "How can you listen to the enemy if the phone companies aren't going to participate with you?" Bush said in an impassioned news conference. "And they're not going to participate if they get sued." Bush was urging Congress to pass a new law that would give the companies immunity from prosecution on eavesdropping charges. "I just can't tell you how important it is to not alienate, or not discourage, these phone companies."

AT&T and Verizon face some 40 lawsuits, consolidated into five cases, alleging they helped the government wiretap Americans in the wake of 9/11. It has been reported that the companies are declining to help with wiretaps as a result. But Democrats have repeatedly offered to pass a bill that gives telecoms immunity for cooperation with government security efforts; the standoff revolves around whether that immunity should be retroactive.

"Democrats have always supported prospective, 'from-here-forward' liability protection for companies," says Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate majority leader Harry Reid. "Prospective immunity is not in dispute," says Brendan Daly, spokesman for Nancy Pelosi. The argument is over the White House call for immunity to be extended for any eavesdropping the companies may have done in the past at the government's behest. Bush has said he'll veto any bill that doesn't include retroactive immunity; Democrats are refusing to offer it.

The telecom companies decline to comment .................

[L. Coyote]

9. LIAR-in-Chief = "Fact Check on Wiretapping Law Claims"

Fact Check on Wiretapping Law Claims
By PAMELA HESS – 23 hours ago - http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5joJ-V9YUILpqHMqVJ9AK13bWkDYAD8V3IT8G0


WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly two weeks after a temporary surveillance law expired, President Bush and congressional Democrats are at odds over who is to blame for the delay in producing new legislation.

Bush said Thursday he will keep raising the issue until Congress gives him the powers he says he needs to protect the nation. That includes shielding telecommunications companies from lawsuits stemming from their alleged cooperation with warrantless wiretapping.

Bush used the bully pulpit of a White House news conference to press the issue. What he said and how it stacks up against the facts:

___

BUSH: Lawmakers should act "to pass legislation our intelligence officials need to quickly — quickly and effectively monitor terrorist communications."

THE FACTS: Both the House and Senate have passed surveillance legislation. .......

.....

[L. Coyote]

10. VIDEO: Keith Olbermann on Countdown = Bushed! Feb. 28, 2008 = Telecom Immunity

Keith Olbermann on Countdown = Bushed! Feb. 28, 2008 = Telecom Immunity
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x99091

[L. Coyote]

11. VIDEO: Dana Perino White House Press Briefing ** 2008.02.28 ** Telecom Crimes

Dana Perino White House Press Briefing ** 2008.02.28 ** Telecom Crimes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x99095

[L. Coyote]

12. VIDEO: The Communicators: Telecommunications & Surveillance

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x99098

[TexasObserver]

13. Yes, it was definitely a political HIT, retribution for telling the govt to F-off

All because he followed the constitution.

This is why the Bushies must be prosecuted for their excesses.

[Supersedeas]

18. to all the waiving CEO's of the world -- do you want to be in Nachio's shoes?

[TexasObserver]

21. Exactly. Bush makes Tony Soprano look like a grade school bully

They were sending a message to top CEOs, just like they were sending a message with Don Siegelman. These people are pure evil.

[L. Coyote]

14. Nacchio's Prosecutor James "Jay" McMahon Gets U.S. Attorney's Office Post

Criminal Prosecutor McMahon Gets U.S. Attorney's Office Post
By AMIR EFRATI - February 19, 2008; Page B9 -


James "Jay" McMahon, a prosecutor in the Justice Department's criminal division in Washington, has been named chief of the business and securities fraud unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of New York, effective March 3.


Mr. McMahon, who has been deputy chief of the criminal division's fraud section since 2005, supervised the prosecution of former Qwest Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Joe Nacchio on insider-trading charges, which ended in his conviction last year. He also oversaw a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. unit of British energy firm BP PLC last year over manipulation of commodities prices.

The Darien, Conn., native had previously served for more than 12 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey, where he helped try the first case against former Cendant Corp. executives over a massive accounting fraud.

.........

[L. Coyote]

15. Texan Cliff Stricklin, Nacchio's lead prosecutor leaving federal post. WHY?

And, why was he recruited?
And, why did DoJ DC want to take over this case before the hiring?

This SMELLS of a cover-up from the onset, with an insider
brought in to handle a political case covering up a crime.

=======================
Nacchio's prosecutor leaving federal post
By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/06/nacchio-prosecutor-leaving-federal-post/


Cliff Stricklin, lead prosecutor on the team that secured a conviction of former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, said Tuesday he will leave his job as first assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado this spring to enter private practice.

Stricklin, 43, will join Holland & Hart LLP, working in its Denver office. He plans to focus on business dispute and securities litigation and work with the team's white-collar group.

.........

U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid recruited Stricklin for the $142,000-a-year job in August 2006, shortly after Eid was appointed the state's top federal prosecutor.

Stricklin had just finished serving on the Department of Justice's Enron Task Force, helping convict former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

..............

Several members of the Nacchio trial team, including then-acting U.S. Attorney William Leone, had left, and infighting was threatening to derail the case.

[L. Coyote]

19. 2006.08.11 = Bill Leone, Top prosecutor in Nacchio case stepping down

Top prosecutor in Nacchio case stepping down
By Andy Vuong - Denver Post Staff Writer - 08/11/2006 - http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4165910


Bill Leone, the lead prosecutor in the criminal insider-trading case against former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio, said Thursday he is withdrawing from the case and returning to private practice.

Leone's departure deals a blow to the government's case against Nacchio and further shuffles a prosecution team that also lost a key attorney in June, experts said.

Leone joined the U.S. attorney's office five years ago and has served as the acting U.S. attorney in Colorado since December 2004. He has spearheaded the government's investigation into the alleged fraud at Denver- based Qwest since 2002.

With Colorado's incoming U.S. Attorney Troy Eid expected to take office soon, Leone said Thursday he would not see the case through.

..............

Leone's co-lead prosecutor, Michael Koenig, left the case two months ago to join a private law firm in Washington, D.C. Koenig had worked on the case since March 2004. ...... Leone, who led a largely unsuccessful fraud prosecution of four former Qwest executives in 2004, said he probably would have stayed with Justice had he been appointed U.S. attorney. ..............

[L. Coyote]

17. Documents: Qwest was targeted = 'Classified info' was not allowed

Documents: Qwest was targeted. 'Classified info' was not allowed at ex-CEO's trial
Sara Burnett And Jeff Smith - October 11, 2007 - http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html


The National Security Agency and other government agencies retaliated against Qwest because the Denver telco refused to go along with a phone spying program, documents released Wednesday suggest.

The documents indicate that likely would have been at the heart of former CEO Joe Nacchio's so-called "classified information" defense at his insider trading trial, had he been allowed to present it.

The secret contracts - worth hundreds of millions of dollars - made Nacchio optimistic about Qwest's future, even as his staff was warning him the company might not make its numbers, Nacchio's defense attorneys have maintained. But Nacchio didn't present that argument at trial.

The documents suggest U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham refused to allow Nacchio to present the argument about retaliation. Nottingham also said Nacchio would have to take the stand to raise the classified defense.

....................

[PassingFair]

20. Not just Nacchio, either, 3 or 4 CFO's and other officers at Qwest, too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/business/15qwest.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/archive/ag/speeches/2003/022503qwestpressconference.htm

http://www.cfonet.com/article.cfm/3661487?f=search

They went after about 8 or 9 of them.

Not a politically motivated hit at all.

:sarcasm:

[L. Coyote]

22. Yes, and that means lots of litigation and attention ....

[L. Coyote]

64. Proposal targets CEOs who knew of crimes

Proposal targets CEOs who knew of crimes
Ivan Moreno AP - 03/21/2008 - http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8644251

A labor and activist coalition is pushing a November ballot proposal that could allow Colorado executives to be sued if they knew their company broke a law and did nothing to stop it. A business chamber said the measure could harm the state's business climate and unleash baseless lawsuits.

Protect Colorado's Future, a coalition of labor and activist groups, argues that under current state law top corporate officers aren't personally accountable for their actions. Larry Ellingson, a retiree of Qwest Communications International Inc., who is behind the proposal, cited the case of former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio ...

...

[Riley133]

23. Do you know if there is a legal defense fund somewhere for this? If so,

would you provide the link? Thank you.

[L. Coyote]

24. No idea. Looks like Qwest might get the tab!

[L. Coyote]

25. ACLU Refutes President’s Claims on FISA, Telecom Immunity (2/28/2008)

ACLU Refutes President’s Claims on FISA, Telecom Immunity (2/28/2008)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE dcaclu.org = http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/34241prs20080228.html


Washington, DC – President Bush spoke once again today on the House’s refusal to pass a Senate-approved bill updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). He also, once again, pleaded for retroactive and prospective immunity for the telecommunications companies who aided in his warrantless wiretapping program, claiming that the suits brought against them were a "financial gravy train" for attorneys.

The following can be attributed to Timothy Sparapani, Senior Legislative Counsel for the ACLU:

"Contrary to the president’s false claim that those suing the telecoms are doing so because of a ‘financial gravy train," those who are seeking justice against the companies that sold out their privacy are not in it for the money. This is about the rule of law, and about insisting that corporations not be treated as above the law. You follow the rules, you don’t get sued. It’s as simple as that. Americans deserve their day in court.

"As for getting the help of these companies in the future, the president conveniently fails to mention that the companies will have immunity if they follow the law – namely FISA. For years, the telephone companies knowingly violated that law and should be held accountable. Because the administration does not want this lawlessness aired publicly, Bush is trying to prevent the courts from doing their job and is now goading Congress to bait them into aiding his administration’s cover-up. A full and public airing of the facts is necessary and overdue. The bottom line in all of these cases is that these giant companies must be held accountable for violating the law and dissuaded from violating the law in the future."

The following can be attributed Michelle Richardson, Legislative Consultant for the American Civil Liberties Union:

"The president continues to misrepresent the situation with FISA. Fear mongering and making unsubstantiated claims of lost intelligence does not help Congress reach a resolution. President Bush’s concerns can only be taken as seriously as his actions. Let’s not forget the facts - the Protect America Act expired because he flatly refused to sign a second extension. House Democrats should be lauded for standing strong on their principles and supporting the Constitution. The president can’t have it both ways. He can’t dig his heels in and then complain that nothing is moving. The president will have to lie in the bed he made while he waits for Congress to finish its job."

To read more about the ACLU’s work on FISA, go to:
www.aclu.org/fisa

[L. Coyote]

30. EFF: Top Ten Questions for Journalists to Ask the White House

Top Ten Questions for Journalists to Ask the White House
Posted by Kurt Opsahl - March 3rd, 2008 - http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/03/top-ten-questions-journalists-ask-white-house


Too often the White House spokespeople are able to dodge and weave their way through questions about the President's demand for immunity against warrantless surveillance lawsuits. To help the press corps try to get to the heart of the matter, here are the top ten questions we'd like to see Dana Perino or Tony Fratto faced with at their next press conference:

* #10: How can the lawsuits cause liability for "billions" of dollars unless the telcoms violated the rights of millions of ordinary Americans? If the surveillance is limited to communications involving suspected terrorists, wouldn't the number of people surveilled be very low?

* #9: You said that if the telecommunications surveillance lawsuits "are allowed to proceed, would serve only to line the pockets of class- action trial lawyers." How would it "line their pockets" unless the the plaintiffs win and a court find that the telecoms' surveillance was illegal?

...............

[L. Coyote]

26. WA POST: Bush Moves to Shield Telecommunications Firms

Bush Moves to Shield Telecommunications Firms
by Dan Eggen and Ellen Nakashima - Washington Post Staff Writers - March 2, 2008; Page A07 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/01/AR2008030101556.html?hpid=sec-nation


President Bush said last week that telecommunications companies that helped government wiretapping efforts need protection from "class-action plaintiff attorneys" who see a "financial gravy train" ahead. Democrats and privacy groups responded by accusing the Bush administration of trying to shut down the lawsuits to hide evidence of illegal acts.

But in the bitter Washington dispute over whether to give the companies legal immunity, there is one thing on which both sides agree: If the lawsuits go forward, sensitive details about the scope and methods of the Bush administration's surveillance efforts could be divulged for the first time.

Nearly 40 lawsuits, consolidated into five groups, are pending before a San Francisco judge. The various plaintiffs, a mix of nonprofit civil liberties advocates and private attorneys, are seeking to prove that the Bush administration engaged in illegal massive surveillance of Americans' e-mails and phone calls after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and to show that major phone companies illegally aided the surveillance, including the disclosure of customers' call records.

If the cases are allowed to proceed, plaintiffs' attorneys say, the courts could review, in secret if necessary, any government authorizations for the surveillance. The process might also force the disclosure of government memos, contracts and other documents to a judge, outlining the legal reasoning behind the warrantless wiretapping program.

Perhaps most important, disclosures in the lawsuits could clarify the scope of the government's surveillance .............

[L. Coyote]

27. WA POST: Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders

Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders
Firm's Letter to Lawmakers Details Government Requests
By Ellen Nakashima - October 16, 2007; Page A01 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501857.html


Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.

The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations.

.....

Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information identifying not just a person making a call, but all the people that customer called, as well as the people those people called. Verizon does not keep data on this "two-generation community of interest" for customers, but the request highlights the broad reach of the government's quest for data.

The disclosures, in a letter from Verizon to three Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the carriers' participation in government surveillance programs, demonstrated the willingness of telecom companies to comply with government requests for data, even, at times, without traditional legal supporting documents. ...............

[L. Coyote]

28. WIRED: Telecom Amnesty Compromise in Works, Reyes Says

Telecom Amnesty Compromise in Works, Reyes Says
By Ryan Singel - March 03, 2008 | http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/telecom-amnesty.html


House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes says the House and Senate may come to a compromise this week over whether to grant amnesty to telecoms that aided Bush's secret, domestic wiretapping program.

The Texas Democrat says he's seen some of the wiretapping documents and talked with the telecoms, and is open now to the idea of giving the companies immunity.

............

Speaking on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday, Reyes said:

We are talking to the representatives from the communications companies because if we're going to give them blanket immunity, we want to know and we want to understand what it is that we're giving immunity for. I have an open mind about that.

.........

[slipslidingaway]

29. Kick and thanks n/t

[L. Coyote]

32. DITTO that. Correcting myths is a full-time job with this Junta.

[slipslidingaway]

34. Sure is! I posted a link to this thread here...

FISA and Protect America Act links...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=308x613

Thought it could be a gathering spot for a collection of links on the FISA legislation.

The threads in the Congress forum are not archived as often and do not have as many posts so they are easier to search.


Here is the one I started back in November for the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007 S. 1959 & H.R. 1955.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=308x571

[L. Coyote]

31. WA POST: Why Immunity Matters = "concerns about fairness, secrecy and future cooperation."

Why Immunity Matters
By Dan Froomkin - March 3, 2008 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/03/BL2008030301517.html


When he's talking extemporaneously, President Bush's rhetoric on the issue of retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated with his warrantless wiretapping program tends toward the simplistic and argumentative.

"We want to know who's calling who," he said at last week's press conference, emphasizing his words by thumping the lectern. "We need to know in order to protect the people."

No one, of course, is arguing the contrary. The debate is over how to go about it .... beyond the hyperbole, the Bush administration is articulating a more measured, three-part argument for immunity, based on concerns about fairness, secrecy and future cooperation.

It just so happens that all three parts of this argument are flawed.

The Three Reasons ...........

[L. Coyote]

33. POLITICO: Congress deadlocked on FISA

Congress deadlocked on FISA
Daniel W. Reilly - Mar 5, 2008 - http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8837.html


Nearly three weeks after the expiration ... Congress remains deadlocked .... the White House and congressional Republicans insisted Tuesday that there was no give in their position.

“The House has passed a bill which is unacceptable to us and unacceptable to a bipartisan majority of the Senate,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said ..........

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Democratic aides from the House and Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees met in the latest in an ongoing series of meetings to resolve differences between the two versions of the bill. Republicans boycotted the meetings — as they have previous meetings on the issue — and insisted the House should vote immediately on the Senate-passed bill. ......

.......

[L. Coyote]

35. EFF: Plaintiffs Speak Out Against Telecom Immunity

Plaintiffs Speak Out Against Telecom Immunity
Hugh D'Andrade - March 5th, 2008 - http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/03/plaintiffs-speak-out-against-telecom-immunity


The Bush administration and its supporters have repeated complaints about "greedy trial lawyers" so many times that they're beginning to sound like one of those clips on the Daily Show -- you know, the ones that show talking points being repeated so many times that it becomes painfully obvious how politicians use catch phrases to manipulate public opinion?

A couple of op-ed pieces appeared this week taking the "trial lawyer" meme to task for it's obvious weaknesses. Both were penned by plaintiffs in the suits objected to by the President -- suits headed by EFF that seek to hold telecoms accountable for their participation in the NSA's massive and illegal warrantless wiretapping program.

Journalist Peter Sussman writes in the Sacramento Bee says that he doesn't stand to win any money in these suits, but he does hope "to open to public scrutiny the actions of corporations and government that have teamed up to deny citizens the rights guaranteed by law."

....... http://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/748887.html

In the Chicago Tribune, an author, a physician, a State Representative and a Chicago corporation counsel have teamed up to write Why We Sued the Phone Company." The four plaintiffs -- Studs Terkel, Quentin Young, Barbara Flynn Currie and James Montgomery -- say they aren't "trial lawyers." And they say they deserve their day in court to find out just what the government has been doing with their phone records:

............ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0302phonemar02,0,5245341.story

..... There are the voices of the real people behind these cases -- and each one represents thousands of innocent Americans whose rights were violated when their phone company illegally handed their records and calling data to the NSA without a court order or warrant. If Congress passes retroactive immunity to telecom lawbreakers, it will be an attempt to deprive these people of their day in court.

[L. Coyote]

59. Is Retroactive Telecom Immunity Unconstitutional?

Is Retroactive Telecom Immunity Unconstitutional?
By Ryan Singel - Feb 08, 2008 - http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/is-retroactive.html


.... Findlaw columnist and Cardozo law school professor Anthony Sebok suggests that freeing the telecoms without giving some sort of compensation to those suing the companies would amount to an unconstitutional taking. Some 40 lawsuits have been filed against suspected participating telecoms for alleged violations of federal privacy law. ....

... To prove standing, one generally needs to prove harm, which proved to be the undoing of an ACLU challenge brought by journalists, Muslim groups and lawyers -- none of whom could actually prove they were wiretapped. The Ninth Circuit ruled fairly unfavorably on the Al-Haramain case where the plaintiffs claim the government accidentally gave them a secret document showing the group's lawyers had been warrantless spying.

In the most successful case so far, Judge Vaughn Walker has thus far only allowed the case to proceed on the issue of wiretapping, but not on claims based on the turn over of phone records to the government. Walker's ruling turns on the fact that the Administration has admitted to the former, but never to the latter ....


If the Administration decided to compensate everyone whose phone records were tapped, THREAT LEVEL suggest it would look mightily like the upcoming stimulus package. Government secrecy and domestic covert actions sure do do funny things to a democracy.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

36. It's creepy beyond belief inciting so many images of dictatorship.

:scared:

Did Conyers EVER get the information he requested from the DOJ? UGH! I doubt it! This administration is in a state of perpetual COVER-UP!
:grr:

[L. Coyote]

37. The House is asking for info on what the immunity is for. So, the Rs don't show up!

That is why they are skipping the meetings. They got no answers! They will not say what they actually did "for us" that Bush thinks we should thank them for.

"Do say, what are we thanking you for again, which crime?"

No answer. Well, how can we properly thank them then?? :rofl:

[hootinholler]

38. How to properly thank them?

With a warrant, of course.

-Hoot

[L. Coyote]

40. Chief federal judge investigated for alleged involvement with prostitutes

3/7/2008 - http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=87702

DENVER – 9Wants to Know has learned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is investigating Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham for the third time in the past year.

He is being investigated for improper judicial conduct after his full name and personal cell phone number appeared on a list of clients from a Denver prostitution business.

The business called Denver Players or Denver Sugar was shut down in January after IRS and Denver Police investigators served search warrants at the brothel on Fillmore Street.

Nottingham ascended to chief judge in 2007 and presided over the insider trading trial of Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio. .........

[L. Coyote]

42. The timing of Spitzer's leak took this story out of the news completely! FUNNY that!

[L. Coyote]

52. Chief federal judge Nottingham too drunk to remember night at strip club

New warrant served in connection to prostitution ring
Amy Herdy , Investigative Producer
Paula Woodward , Investigative Reporter
Nicole Vap , Executive Producer Investigative
John Fosholt , Producer/Photographer
http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=75200


DENVER – Court documents obtained by 9Wants to Know show Colorado's top federal judge was too drunk to remember how he spent more than $3,000 at a strip club ... also used an Internet dating service while he was married.

.... the couple's divorce case in Eagle County district court last month, Judge Nottingham .... testified, "I'm ashamed and mortified just telling you that is the Diamond Cabaret ... a topless establishment." ... "I had had a lot to drink … and I don't remember."

.... Judge Nottingham also testified about credit card charges for a Web site called IPayFriendFinder.com. ... "A dating site – an Internet dating site." ... "I'm embarrassed to be even talking about this. I think you pay extra to get certain features, such as if you upload a picture or – I don't even recall."

.....

Under the U.S. Constitution, federal judges are appointed for life by the president of the United States. They are supposed to follow an official code of conduct, which contains this explanation:

"Public confidence in the judiciary is eroded by irresponsible or improper conduct by judges. A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny. A judge must therefore accept restrictions that might be viewed as burdensome by the ordinary citizen and should do so freely and willingly. The prohibition against behaving with impropriety or the appearance of impropriety applies to both the professional and personal conduct of a judge."

... as a federal judge Nottingham can be removed from the bench only for high crimes, misdemeanors, treason or bribery.

[L. Coyote]

53. New warrant served = prostitution ring "to prominent clients ... judges, lawyers... politicians

New warrant served in connection to prostitution ring
Jace Larson , Investigative Reporter - 3/19/2008 - updated: 3/20/2008
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=88440


DENVER – A search warrant has been served to get the e-mails from the woman who allegedly ran a high priced prostitution .... served to Microsoft Corporation in Mountain View, California on March 4 .... Federal Judge Edward Nottingham had ties to the escort service which catered to prominent clients including judges, lawyers, businessmen, athletes and politicians.

The warrant ... was returned March 13, allowed the IRS to seize contents of the e-mail accounts ... search warrant gave investigators permission to seize sent, received and draft email messages as well as the contents of the trash folders ... 3,101 files which include e-mails, photos, spreadsheets, graphics, and Internet files.

... the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit is investigating Nottingham for improper judicial conduct after his full name and personal cell phone number appeared on a list of clients from a Denver prostitution business .... the third investigation by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals into Judge Nottingham's conduct in the past year. ...

Judge Nottingham was appointed to the federal bench in 1989 by President George H. W. Bush ...

[L. Coyote]

41. Denver Post: Observers await result of Nacchio appeal = 2008.03.07

Observers await result of Nacchio appeal
By Andy Vuong - Denver Post - 03/07/2008 - http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8482442


Nearly a year after the criminal insider-trading trial of former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio, jurors, shareholders and retirees are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the appeal on his conviction.

A decision could be forthcoming any day, although there is no time limit for an appellate review. The three-judge panel ... can uphold the conviction, grant Nacchio a new trial or acquit him on all charges.

.... jurors deliberated for six days before convicting Nacchio on 19 counts of illegal insider trading connected to his sale of $52 million in Qwest stock. They acquitted him on 23 other charges.

Nacchio, 58, was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $71 million in forfeitures and fines. He has appealed his sentence and remains free on $2 million bond. ...

......

During oral arguments, the appellate panel focused on two points: the exclusion of defense expert testimony and whether the inside information Nacchio sold stock on the basis of was "material," or important enough that it legally had to be disclosed publicly.

If the panel determines the expert was wrongfully excluded, Nacchio gets a new trial. A ruling that the information was not material would acquit Nacchio on all charges.

[mmm413]

43. This couldn't have come at a stranger time

There was an article today about Judge Nottingham frequencing prostitutes, same thing Spitzer did:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4452917&page=1

[L. Coyote]

44. Judge Nottingham's prostitution case may help unravel the case against Nacchio.

I started a thread on this trysting, and it did not float.

Is DU more interested in Spitzer than trhe allegedly criminal chief federal judge handling a political vendetta for the Bush Junta?

=====================

Another One: Top Federal Judge Linked to Prostitution Ring
Officials: Edward Nottingham Was 'Implicated as a Customer' in an Investigation of the Denver Sugar/Denver Players
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4452917&page=1

Chief Federal Judge Edward Nottingham has been linked to an investigation of the prostitution ring Denver Players, according to federal officials. (Denver Post)

Edward Nottingham, the chief federal judge in Denver, Colo., was "implicated as a customer" in an ongoing IRS and Denver police investigation of an alleged prostitution operation called Denver Sugar/Denver Players, according to officials.

The chief judge of the 10th Federal Circuit Court, Robert Henry, is "taking under advisement a complaint about a judge's conduct," according to the Rocky Mountain News. The person who filed the complaint confirmed to the paper that the judge is Nottingham.

Judge Nottingham has remained on the bench since being publicly linked to the investigation last week. ......

[L. Coyote]

46. Not-so-honorable judge presides = "The court fell oddly silent. "

Not-so-honorable judge presides
By Al Lewis - Denver Post - 03/15/2008 - http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8580044

The court system has hired an ex- FBI agent to investigate allegations of misconduct against U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham, who presided over the Joe Nacchio trial.

Here's a gritty little ditty from the Nacchio trial last year.

U.S. District Chief Judge Edward W. Nottingham Jr. — who frequently humiliated lawyers in open court during this trial — was jumping on Jeffrey Speiser, attorney for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio.

Speiser was fumbling in his effort to describe a court exhibit to a witness. Somehow, Speiser could not get the number right. Nottingham grew impatient.

Nottingham: "Are we talking about 809?"

Speiser: "Yes."

Nottingham: "Well, you said 809, the witness just said no, so you're looking at something different."

Speiser: "I'm sorry, I was looking at the numbers upside down. (It's) 608."

Nottingham: "At least it's not 69."

.........

[L. Coyote]

47. New Trial for Ex-Qwest Boss Joseph Nacchio = Nottingham "wrong" to prevent the expert testimony

New Trial for Ex-Qwest Boss Nacchio
The Associated Press - 2 hours ago - http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gP1GK8MeGqLpHc3ExTxg6Q_5HzTAD8VFFOL80
DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court ordered a new trial Monday for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, saying the trial judge wrongly excluded expert testimony ...
Conviction overturned for Qwest's Nacchio Bizjournals.com .. InformationWeek ... InfoWorld
MarketWatch - Wall Street Journal =
all 302 news articles » http://news.google.com/news?q=nacchio


Qwest's Nacchio Saved By Appeals Court, "Guilty" Verdicts Tossed
Silicon Alley Insider, NY - 7 hours ago -

The ruling points out that Judge Nottingham hushed a defense attorney on the matter, without hearing his argument in court.

Mr. Nacchio was rebuffed on one controversial aspect of his defense. He had tried to offer a classified defense strategy that he was upbeat about Qwest's financial prospects because he knew the company was going to receive lucrative, secret government contracts. The judge excluded nearly all this material, a point Mr. Nacchio's appellate lawyer Maureen Mahoney raised on appeal. The appellate court said there was no error in excluding that information.

===========
New Trial for Ex-Qwest Boss Nacchio
By P. SOLOMON BANDA – 2 hours ago - A - http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gP1GK8MeGqLpHc3ExTxg6Q_5HzTAD8VFFOL80

DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court ordered a new trial Monday for former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, saying the trial judge wrongly excluded expert testimony important to Nacchio's defense in his insider trading case.

The court also ordered a new judge to hear Nacchio's case.

Nacchio was convicted in April on 19 counts involving the sale of $52 million worth of Qwest stock in 2001. He was sentenced to six years in prison but remained free on appeal. Jurors acquitted Nacchio of 23 counts.

Prosecutors argued Nacchio sold the stock when he knew Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. was at financial risk but didn't tell investors. U.S. Attorney Troy Eid had called the case the largest insider trading prosecution in the nation based on the number of counts, the amount of money involved and the length of the prison term.

..........

===========
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120577599298342331.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Nacchio Conviction Is Overturned by Court
By DIONNE SEARCEY and ASHBY JONES
March 18, 2008

A federal appeals court overturned the insider-trading conviction of Joseph Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications International Inc., citing a judge's error for excluding an expert defense witness.

The 2-1 decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver called federal judge Edward Nottingham "wrong" to prevent the expert testimony of key defense witness, Daniel Fischel, a private consultant and former dean of the law school of the University of Chicago. Mr. Fischel's testimony as an expert "might have changed the jury's mind," said the ruling, which was issued yesterday. The court ordered a new judge for the trial.


The decision is something of a setback for the government's crackdown on corporate misdeeds that began earlier this decade. But legal experts cautioned that the ruling wasn't a complete win for the defense, as Mr. Nacchio could be tried again for the same grounds.

........

The ruling points out that Judge Nottingham hushed a defense attorney on the matter, without hearing his argument in court.

Mr. Nacchio was rebuffed on one controversial aspect of his defense. He had tried to offer a classified defense strategy that he was upbeat about Qwest's financial prospects because he knew the company was going to receive lucrative, secret government contracts. The judge excluded nearly all this material, ... appellate court said there was no error in excluding that information.

[L. Coyote]

48. WA POST: Nacchio's Convictions Are Overturned = "rebuke to U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham"

Nacchio's Convictions Are Overturned
By Carrie Johnson - Washington Post; Page D01, United States - 19 minutes ago = Tuesday, March 18, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702776.html


A federal appeals court overturned the 19 insider-trading convictions of former Qwest Communications chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio after concluding that the trial judge improperly excluded expert testimony that would have helped Nacchio advance his defense.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit said yesterday that the mistake justified a new trial because a business law professor could have offered important context in Nacchio's bid to persuade jurors that he had an innocent explanation for more than $52 million in stock sales while Qwest was struggling to meet profit targets.

The central issue in the case is whether Nacchio dumped stock in early 2001 because he knew the company was faltering or because he simply sought to diversify his financial holdings.

The three-judge panel's ruling erases the jury verdict from last year, as well as a six-year prison sentence for Nacchio, who had remained free pending the results of his appeal. "Armchair economics is not the way to decide complex securities cases," the appeals court wrote.

...........

The appeals court ordered that the Nacchio case be sent to another federal judge, a rebuke to U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham, who has been the subject of critical news reports in Denver for allegedly patronizing adult dating Web sites and a gentlemen's club.

.........

[L. Coyote]

54. FORBES: "Nacchio ... former Qwest employees face fraud charges in a civil suit"

What is with this spin? The "government may be loosening its grip on corporate crime...."
And what does this quote have to do with a legal ruling founded on procedural error?

Is there a loosening grip on corporate crime? When did that start? Good questions!
HELLO! Nacchio did not loosen his grip for government surveillance crimes just after Bush took office.

Whatever else one does in assessing events, do NOT drop that moment from the Bush Junta timeline!
What follows hinges on that fact; the government's actions impacted stock value and Nacchio's decision tree.

Also in this article, details on the ruling, and the Nacchio, et.al. civil suit is cited.

===========
Qwest To Get Beyond Nacchio's Bluster
Melinda Peer, 03.20.08, http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/18/nacchio-qwest-telecommunications-face-markets-cx_mp_0318autofacescan03.html


After nearly a decade of having white-collar defendants by the neck, Monday's appellate court decision to reverse the guilty verdict and six-year prison sentence dealt to former Qwest Communications International Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio raises concerns that the government may be loosening its grip on corporate crime.

.....

Federal prosecutors, however, are dragging their feet in calling for a rematch. In a statement, Eid merely acknowledged they were working with the Department of Justice to consider all available legal options.

Even if Nacchio eludes a rehash, his legal troubles are far from behind him. He and four other former Qwest employees face fraud charges in a civil suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misrepresenting one-time revenue from fiber optic sales as recurring sales. The creative accounting led to $3.0 billion in unfounded sales, according to the SEC. Qwest erased $2.2 billion through financial restatements after the scandal broke.

Nacchio's abrasive and domineering demeanor arguably has helped as much as it has hurt him (See: " No Ordinary Joe" http://www.forbes.com//forbes/2000/0807/6604082a.html). After twenty-six years at AT&T .....

[L. Coyote]

49. Denver POST: Nacchio conviction overturned

NO mention of the illegal surveillance in these reports!

===============
Nacchio conviction overturned
Andy Vuong - The Denver Post - 03/17/2008
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_8603419


The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the guilty verdict in the criminal insider trading case of former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio and ordered a new trial before a different judge.

.....

The judges also ruled that there was sufficient evidence to warrant a new trial without "violating the double jeopardy clause."

.......

"This is a setback, not a defeat," U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid said in a statement. "The good news is the circuit court said our trial team presented sufficient evidence to convict Mr. Nacchio of insider-trading."

He added that his office is considering its options "in consultation with the Department of Justice."

...........

[NashVegas]

50. Thanks For This Thread

It shows how corrupt Washington is. You can violate almost any law you want, so long as you dance to the BFEE's tune when they want you to.

[L. Coyote]

51. It will be interesting to watch how DoJ now proceeds, without Rove and Gonzales.

And after the USA scandals. There will be a new level of scrutiny in the context of known political persecutions, like Gov. Siegelman, and in light of the telecoms who are being sued for what Nacchio refused to do.

While there can be a retrial, I'm not sure the attention such a trial will bring to illegal telecom surveillance is wanted by the Junta. However, there is a lot of pressure from stockholders who lost life savings. This will continue to generate headlines. I expect DoJ to make moves that will delay until after the election, at least, the decision to retry. That means an appeal of the 3-judge decision.

Nacchio should appeal the ruling on state secrets, the part he lost to the the 3-judge panel.

[sce56]

55. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Wish I had seen it earlier

[L. Coyote]

56. WA POST: House Passes Surveillance Bill Without Telecom Immunity

House Passes Surveillance Bill Without Telecom Immunity
The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation that would re-authorize U.S. government antiterrorist surveillance programs.
March 15, 2008 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031500136.html


The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would re-authorize U.S. government antiterrorist surveillance programs but would not grant immunity from lawsuits to telecom providers that have participated with surveillance programs in the past.

An amended version of the House bill, called theRestore Act, would require prior court approval of surveillance of U.S. residents talking to overseas suspects. The House passed the bill by a margin of less than 20 votes on Friday.

The House vote on Friday puts it at odds with the Senate, which passed a surveillance extension bill with telecom immunity last month. House and Senate negotiators will now have to iron out the differences between the bills.

.................

[L. Coyote]

63. EFF: The Case Against Retroactive Amnesty for Telecoms

The Case Against Retroactive Amnesty for Telecoms
http://www.eff.org/nsa

Congress is now considering whether the President has unilateral power to ask companies to break American law.

For more than five years, AT&T and other telephone companies broke the law and violated their customers' privacy rights by sending billions of private domestic internet and telephone communications and records to the National Security Agency.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is co-lead counsel in the pending lawsuits against these companies. We urge members of Congress to heed the call of editorial pages across the nation and oppose any form of retroactive immunity for telephone companies.

Key Facts
1. Reporting from every major American media outlet and undisputed whistleblower evidence show that AT&T and other phone companies were complicit in the NSA's warrantless surveillance. This included the records and full content of the private domestic communications of millions of ordinary Americans. ...

....

Key Resources ....

[L. Coyote]

57. Telcos Spent $10K Per Telecom Amnesty Vote, Sunshine Group Says

WIRED continues their great coverage of the telecom crimes:

============
Telcos Spent $10K Per Telecom Amnesty Vote, Sunshine Group Says
WIRED: Ryan Singel - March 21, 2008 - http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/telcos-spent-10.html

Political action committees for telecoms being sued for privacy violations gave more than $10,000 on average to each Congress member who voted to give amnesty to telecoms being sued for illegally helping the government spy on Americans, according to an analysis done by MapLight.org, an organization devoted to using new technology to show the influence of money on government.

The analysis found that from January 2005 to September 2007 AT&T, Sprint and Verizon PAC donations favored legislators who subsequently voted in March 2008 to help the companies escape their legal woes. That raises interesting questions, according to Daniel Newman, Maplight.org's executive director. (http://www.maplight.org/)

"Who are members of Congress listening to, the people voting for them or the telecoms companies that give them money?," Newman asks. "That's an open question. There's no way to tell but its a question constituents should be asking?"

But even those who voted against immunity got quite a bit of money from the telecom PACs, an average of $7000. That's not a big difference ....

[Stinky The Clown]

58. How sad .... replying endlessly to one's own thread

You need a friend.

[L. Coyote]

60. STOP the spying. Where does your representative stand? = Enter your zipcode:

Where does your representative stand?
http://www.stopthespying.org/

For more than five years, AT&T and other telephone companies broke the law and violated their customers' privacy rights by sending billions of private domestic internet and telephone communications and records to the National Security Agency.

The Bush administration has been lobbying Congress to let the phone companies off the hook. But recently, the House of Representatives stood strong and passed a bill that would hold them accountable.

Enter your zipcode: = http://www.stopthespying.org/

... Learn more about illegal wiretapping at EFF.org ....

[L. Coyote]

61. Mukasey: I'm Open to Compromise... As Long As The Telecoms Get Retroactive Immunity

Mukasey: I'm Open to Compromise... As Long As The Telecoms Get Retroactive Immunity
Paul Kiel - March 21, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/mukasey_im_open_to_compromise.php

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has an open mind. Way open. From The Legal Times' blog:
(http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/03/mukasey-urges-p.html)

......

=====================
Mukasey Urges Passage of FISA Reform Bill
Pedro Ruz Gutierrez - March 21, 2008 - http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/03/mukasey-urges-p.html

Citing daily terror threats and briefings, Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday once again urged Congress to pass an electronic surveillance bill that grants telephone companies retroactive immunity for their past cooperation.

"The folks who are out there, who I hear about every morning, have a very long attention span," Mukasey said in reference to terrorist groups. "Fatwahs and other directives do not have an expiration date, and the only weapon we have is intelligence." .... "We're willing and happy to work with Congress on a workable bill. The Senate passed a workable, bipartisan bill that contains some compromises. The House passed a bill that was neither bipartisan nor workable."

.....