En banc Tenth Circuit reinstates insider trading conviction of former Qwest CEO Nacchio

Though not technically a sentencing ruling, the white-collar sentencing world should surely take note of the Tenth Circuit’s decision today, via a 5-4 en banc ruling, to reinstate Joe Nacchio’s federal criminal insider trading conviction.  This post from the WSJ Law Blog provides some details (noting some sentencing realities) and useful links:

In a squeaker of a decision, the full Tenth Circuit earlier today upheld former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio insider trading conviction, offering another setback to the former telecom high flyer’s attempt to reverse a jury’s decision in 2007.  The court also revoked his bail, so Nacchio is likely headed to prison in the near future. Click here for the ruling; here for the Denver Post’s account.

Nacchio was convicted nearly two years ago of 19 counts of insider trading for selling off Qwest’s stock even as he knew the Denver-based telecom company’s finances were heading south.  Since then he’s been fighting the conviction, with the help of his high-profile attorney, Latham & Watkins’s Maureen Mahoney.  Nacchio has been free on a $2 million bond since then, and has spent toggling between his New Jersey and Florida homes.

In a 5-4 vote, the appeals court overturned an initial three-judge panel’s decision to grant Nacchio a new trial….  Former U.S. Attorney Troy Eid, who oversaw the case but recently left to become partner at Greenberg Traurig, was ebullient about the decision. “It’s a tremendous day for the United States government,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Maureen Mahoney [has now said]: “We are profoundly disappointed by the Court of Appeals’ closely divided en banc decision. . . . We are optimistic that the Supreme Court of the United States will review the case, not just to resolve the conflicts but to correct what the chief judge of the Court of Appeals described as a ‘draconian decision’ to deprive Nacchio of his fundamental right to a defense. . . ”