Nacchio, Rigas make Time's list of top 10 'crooked CEOs'

Denver Business Journal

Thursday, January 14, 2010

 

Joe Nacchio, the former Qwest CEO convicted on insider trading charges, has been named to Time magazine's "Top 10 Crooked CEOs" list.

The Time list also includes John Rigas, convicted former CEO of now-defunct cable company Adelphia Communications Corp., which moved to Greenwood Village before its demise.

"In the wake of a multibillion-dollar accounting scandal that nearly destroyed the Denver-based telecommunications company, ... Nacchio was convicted in April 2007 on 19 counts of insider trading," Time says in its report, posted Thursday on its website.

"Prosecutors said he illegally sold $52 million in stock in 2001, even as he knew the company was taking on water. Nacchio was sentenced to six years in prison but remained free on $2 million bail pending an appeal. ... Nacchio is now sharing a cell at a minimum-security federal prison camp at Minersville, Pa."

Nacchio is awaiting re-sentencing on his criminal conviction and also faces a pending civil case.

Rigas "was forced to retire as CEO in 2002 after being indicted for securities, bank and wire fraud; prosecutors charged him with the personal misuse of corporate funds and with hiding $2.3 billion in liabilities from investors," Time says. "Rigas was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison; Adelphia filed for bankruptcy after admitting that the former CEO and his two sons had failed to record $3.1 billion in loans."

Rigas and Nacchio are ranked Nos. 4 and 5 respectively on Time's list.

Time places Bernie Madoff at No. 1, and its list also includes two former Enron execs -- Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling -- as well as Tyco International's Dennis Kozlowski, famous for the $2 million birthday party he threw his second wife on an Italian island.

Click here for Time's top 10 crooked CEOs list.