February 25, 2009 08:48 PM UTC

Nacchio Conviction Upheld

• 0 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Closure a step nearer in our local Enron scandal, as the Denver Post reports:

A federal appeals court in Denver today upheld Joe Nacchio’s criminal insider trading conviction, overturning an initial three-judge panel’s decision to grant the former Qwest chief executive a new trial.

The initial panel had ruled that the trial judge hindered Nacchio’s right to a fair trial in excluding expert testimony from business-law professor and private consultant Daniel Fischel, one of the three witnesses Nacchio called in his defense against 42 counts of insider trading charges.

In a 5 to 4 vote, a panel of nine judges disagreed.

Nacchio, 59, remains free on $2 million bail and is expected to petition for the Supreme Court to hear the case. He faces six years in prison for his conviction on 19 counts of insider trading.