Former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio has been indicted on 42 counts of insider trading, reports WSJ. He made $176.5 million in profits from stock sales in 2002 alone. The prosecutors are seeking a $100 million in restitution.

“was specifically and repeatedly warned about the material, nonpublic financial risks facing Qwest and about Qwest’s ability to achieve its aggressive publicly stated financial targets.”

Denver Post has a more indepth look at the lead-up to this latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Qwest, a high-flying darling of the investors in the 1990s. Its aggressive takeover of US West, a fiber network that spanned the globe, and the stock that defied gravity, Qwest was supposed to be the future. It did not pan out that way, and now the company is a much shrunken former self of itself.

In “Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist” , I write about the rise and fall of Qwest in the chapter called, “Rocky Mountain High.” Here is a back ground piece from the Red Herring.