All CEOs should go to "self-improvement camp".
On Fri, Sep 27, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Marv Gandall <[email protected]> wrote: > Former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio: Tales From a White-Collar Prison Sentence > By DIONNE SEARCEY > Wall Street Journal > September 27 2013 > > LIVINGSTON, N.J.—Former telecommunications company chief executive Joseph > Nacchio entered prison in 2009 out of shape, depressed and anxious. > > Fifty-four months later, Mr. Nacchio, 64 years old, who once ran Qwest > Communications International Inc., has emerged physically unrecognizable > from his pre-incarceration life. > > Prison appears to have shaved years off his looks. He has broad shoulders > from a daily regimen of lifting weights and 5-mile walks and runs. He has a > goatee and his head, formerly covered with black hair, is completely shaved > and tan. He says his blood pressure and cholesterol are lower than when he > entered prison and his body fat has dropped dramatically. He thinks he > looks like actor Edward Norton on his federal Bureau of Prisons > identification card. > > Prison also offered the CEO, who once was surrounded by highflying telecom > executives before his prosecution for insider trading in 2007, a new set of > peers: drug offenders Spoonie and Juice, and a bunkmate named Spider. > > "I trust Spoonie and Juice with my back. I wouldn't trust the guys who > worked for me at Qwest," said Mr. Nacchio, in his first interview since he > was fully released from custody Sept. 20. > > Mr. Nacchio is among the first white-collar executives to be set free > after a decade of aggressive crackdowns by federal investigators to rein in > shenanigans at public companies. He remains as combative as ever, insisting > he never committed a crime, while describing his experience in prison as > something akin to "Lord of the Flies, for grown-ups." > > A jury convicted Mr. Nacchio of selling $52 million of stock as Qwest's > outlook was deteriorating when the telecom boom of the early 2000s was > imploding. He paid a $19 million fine and after an appeal forfeited $44.6 > million, though he says he is still well-off financially, and still owns > several residences. > > Mr. Nacchio spent most of his sentence in two Pennsylvania facilities > called camps, the lowest level of security offered by the Bureau of Prisons. > > There are no bars and no walls around the perimeter. Camp inmates can send > emails. > > But they are awakened in the night for security checks. Phone calls are > limited to about 10 minutes a day. Visitors are allowed but only every > other weekend and some holidays. > > Prison experts and former inmates say conditions are less comfortable for > white-collar criminals than they were in the 1980s, when media stories > about leafy prison camps with sparkling athletic facilities surfaced during > the savings-and-loan crisis. They say authorities took down tennis nets in > at least one camp and cut off inmate access to golf courses and swimming > pools. > > A Bureau of Prisons spokesman said federal camps do not have pools and > said the agency doesn't keep records of past amenities. > > "There is no such thing as a Club Fed," said prison consultant Alan Ellis, > who advises white-collar convicts about life in prison. > > Mr. Nacchio's fellow inmates included former Galleon Group trader Zvi > Goffer and his brother Emanuel Goffer, both serving time for an > insider-trading scheme. Mr. Nacchio got to know both of them. > > But the two prison camps where Mr. Nacchio served, named Schuylkill and > Lewisburg, were in large part populated with drug offenders, Mr. Nacchio > said—men with muscular builds, covered in tattoos, and often two decades > younger than him. Two of them became his guardian angels. > > "Joe was right down to earth," said Spoonie, who asked that his real name > not be used because of the stigma his drug-conspiracy conviction carries. > > Spoonie, 45, said other white-collar offenders were "just all full of > themselves," and stereotyped inmates such as himself and Juice, another > drug offender, because of their tattoos and crimes. > > "We are like best friends now," he said, adding that Mr. Nacchio's prison > nickname was "Joe-ski-luv," because he's been married to the same woman for > more than 30 years. "If he ever needs a lung or a bone, I'm there." > > Some former Qwest employees and shareholders remain unmoved. Mr. Nacchio > made lots of enemies at Qwest when it took over regional telecom company > U.S. West, a tension-fueled process that made him reviled among workers, > some of whose retirement accounts were drained during his tenure and when > Qwest's stock took a dive. > > "There is no sympathy and there will never be forgiveness for Joe > Nacchio," said Kathleen Kennedy, who as president of the Telephone Retirees > Association of Arizona represented phone company retirees during Mr. > Nacchio's time as CEO. > > Ms. Kennedy said she has been approached at retiree meetings by people who > told her that when Mr. Nacchio is released "there's going to be a hit out > on him." > > "I don't think these retirees would do it, but that's how strongly they > felt," she said. > > Mr. Nacchio fought his conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused > to hear his case. > > He has a lawsuit pending in New Jersey Superior Court against his criminal > defense lawyers accusing them of malpractice and overbilling. An employee > at the law office of his main trial lawyer, Herbert Stern, said Mr. Stern > declined to comment. > > He is also seeking a nearly $18 million tax refund, saying his forfeiture > of $44.6 million is tax deductible. A Justice Department official declined > to comment. > > Mr. Nacchio said he still believes his insider-trading prosecution was > government retaliation for rebuffing requests in 2001 from the National > Security Agency to access his customers' phone records. His plans to use > that belief as a defense at trial never materialized; some of the evidence > he wanted to use was deemed classified and barred from being introduced. > > To Mr. Nacchio, the revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, > who leaked documents saying the agency monitors the email and phone records > of Americans, have justified his own stance. He contended the NSA's request > was illegal. > > "I feel vindicated," he said. "I never broke the law, and I never will." > > An NSA spokeswoman declined to comment. > > Sitting at a conference table last week at the Robert D. Borteck, P.C. law > firm in Livingston, N.J., where he was on work release, Messrs. Nacchio and > Borteck recalled the day Mr. Nacchio had three longtime friends drop him in > Minersville, Pa., to begin his term four years ago. > > He said he thought a prison-gate goodbye would be too hard on his wife. > He'd made a mix CD of rock n' roll songs for the three-hour trip, timing it > perfectly when crossing the threshold of the Schuylkill facility with the > lyric from the Eagles "Hotel California"—"you can check out anytime you > like, but you can never leave." He belted out the lyric as prison officers > approached his car, he recalled. > > At the Schuylkill camp, Mr. Nacchio's job was doing laundry for six cents > an hour. Eventually he worked his way up to a tailoring job, hemming pants > and making belts for 12 cents an hour. > > As a well-compensated CEO, Mr. Nacchio never carried cash in his wallet. > In federal prison, where inmates are required to deposit earnings in prison > accounts, his currency was fish: packages of mackerel and tuna purchased > from the commissary. Mr. Nacchio paid a fellow inmate one package of tuna > to collect his mail. Having another inmate clean his tiny cubicle cost him > three packages of "mack." > > Mr. Nacchio and his prison mates found humor in their situation. They > liked to play practical jokes on the "newbies"—white-collar offenders new > to prison camp. > > Mr. Nacchio would sit quietly beside them the first time they entered the > TV room. Spoonie and another inmate would burst in and pretend to jump Mr. > Nacchio, wailing on him with fake kicks and punches as he begged them to > stop. > > In March Mr. Nacchio began a five-week stint in a halfway house and then > began home confinement in New Jersey. He was permitted one shopping trip > every three weeks but had to check in with Bureau of Prisons officials from > a landline because he was barred from using mobile phones. > > On trips to the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, he said he flashed his > Bureau of Prisons identification card to employees, telling them he needed > to use the phone. > > "I can't wait for the first person to come up to me and say something to > me" about the conviction, he said. "I'm going to look them in the eye and > say, 'You must be confusing me with someone who gives a f— about your > opinion.' " > > Until last week, Mr. Nacchio spent most of the day in a temporary office > set up for him as part of his work release at Mr. Borteck's firm. Mr. > Nacchio, who spent his career at telecom companies, was stymied by one > device: the telephone. "I still don't know how to put a call on hold. It's > amazing what you forget in prison." > > Mr. Nacchio has no firm plans for the future. He said he has had overtures > from private-equity firms to be an adviser or consultant. > > For now, he's focusing on shopping two books to publishers. One will be > about what he says is Americans' loss of liberty based on his experiences > with the NSA and other government agencies. > > Another will be based on his incarceration and is "a little bit like Woody > Allen and Mel Brooks go to prison." > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
_______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
