[JURIST] US District Judge Edward Nottingham Friday sentenced [press release] former Qwest Communications [corporate website; JURIST news archive] CEO Joseph Nacchio to six years in prison and ordered him to pay the maximum $19 million fine and forfeit of $52 million in assets obtained through insider trading. Nacchio, who was convicted of 19 counts of insider trading [JURIST report] in April, had faced a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each count.

Nacchio, who will also be required to serve two years of probation, illegally sold 1.33 million Qwest shares valued at $52 million between April 26 and May 29, 2001 before news of Qwest's accounting scandal broke. In December 2005, prosecutors indicted Nacchio on 42 counts of insider trading [JURIST report]. Nacchio and other former Qwest executives are still facing a class action lawsuit [JURIST report] and other civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission [JURIST report]. AP has more.