Government Disputes Nacchio's Claim that Government Retaliated Against Qwest

You will recall that former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio has filed an appeal in his criminal insider-trading conviction.  Among the grounds cited, he points to the exclusion of certain evidence by the district court that, he says, shows that the government retaliated against the company by leaving its name off a list of subcontractors for a lucrative government project, after Qwest questioned the legality of an earlier government plan.  While it's not clear to me what this has to do with the insider-trading charges, the allegations received a great deal of press.  Prosecutors yesterday filed papers that, it says, show that Qwest in fact was part of a group that secured the government contract.  WPost, Papers Contradict Nacchio's Defense.