Federal regulators have notified several current and former Qwest executives, including former President Afshin Mohebbi, that they could be sued in an investigation of the phone company.
The notifications signal significant progress in the government’s attempt to prosecute additional Qwest executives for allegedly inflating the company’s revenue figures via fraudulent business deals.
Among those receiving notices from the Securities and Exchange Commission are Mohebbi; Augie Cruciotti, Qwest’s executive vice president of network operations; and Bill Eveleth, former senior vice president of finance, according to sources familiar with the probe.
Last year, Qwest erased $2.5 billion in revenue from its past books after deeming that its previous accounting for those deals was improper. Of that, $1.5 billion came from swaps and sales of network rights.