16. Qwest Communications
Year: 2002
Approx. Amount: $400 Million*
Company / Person Involved: [Person or Company Found Guilty]
At the turn of the millennium, the share price of the telecommunications company, Qwest Communications International Inc., was trading at around $64. Just two years later, however, as a result of the discovery of accounting fraud that dated back multiple years, the stock took a nosedive into the $1 range.
Qwest Communications @Dartgirl7 / Pinterest.com
As the result of a letter from a whistleblower in the company, an investigation that ultimately uncovered the fraud was set in motion. In 2007, Joseph Nacchio, Qwest’s CEO at the time of the scandal, was charged with and convicted of 19 different counts of insider trading, sentenced to serve time in prison, and was fined $44 million.