The hammer of justice might be slow but it sure is deadly. Some of the former and current Qwest executives are learning that the hard way. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, SEC “is likely to bring civil charges against them for their roles in an array of questionable telecom deals, said people familiar with the matter. The notifications — called Wells notices — signal a new chapter in a nearly two-year investigation into the Denver-based telecommunications company.” Apparently, Joe Nacchio has not gotten such a notice. The Journal says most of the folks are midlevel executives who were involved in the sham capacity swaps. There are more investigations still in progress, but those involve shady arrangements some executives made with start-ups. More like pay-to-play arrangements. I discuss many of these in the chapter nine of Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist.

In related news, Rocky Mountain News is reporting that, “Grant Graham, former chief financial officer of Qwest’s global business unit, filed papers in Denver federal court Monday requesting a court-appointed lawyer.”