Aug 23, 2006 3:34 pm US/Mountain
Former Enron Prosecutor To Oversee Qwest Case
Stricklin Replaces Leone On Nacchio Case
DENVER (AP) ―
An assistant U.S. attorney who served on the team prosecuting former Enron Corp. executives was appointed Wednesday as lead prosecutor in the government's insider trading case against former Qwest chief Joseph Nacchio.
Cliff Stricklin, 42, replaced Bill Leone, who served as U.S. attorney in Colorado from December 2004 until this month when Troy Eid was appointed permanently to the job. Stricklin has been named Eid's first assistant.
A former judge, Stricklin was one of four attorneys on the government's team in the trial against former Enron Corp. executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling.
Enron founder Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks in two separate cases on May 25, and died of heart disease July 5. Former Enron Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling is scheduled to be sentenced in October after being convicted of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors.
Nacchio is charged with 42 counts of insider trading accusing him of selling $101 million in stock in 2001 based on inside knowledge that Qwest Communications International Inc. would be unable to meet targets because it had improperly used nonrecurring revenue to meet those goals.
Each count carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Nacchio has pleaded not guilty and remains free on bail. The next hearing in the case is scheduled Friday in U.S. District Court to consider motions.
Stricklin also was involved in a securities and accounting fraud case against five former Enron executives.
He was an assistant U.S. attorney in Texas before becoming a state district judge in Dallas for four years, focusing on felony criminal cases. He is a graduate of Washington & Lee School of Law and Baylor University.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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