Former Qwest Communications chief Joseph Nacchio voluntarily withdrew an appeal of his criminal conviction on Friday, marking what may be the final chapter of his long running insider trading case.

Nacchio withdrew the appeal in filings with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Nacchio was convicted of 19 counts of insider trading, raking in $52 million in sales of Qwest stock in 2001 with information unknown to investors about the company's true financial picture.

The former star on Wall Street became one of a number of corporate chieftains convicted of financial crimes. Others included WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers, Tyco International's Dennis Kozlowski and several top executives of Enron.

An appeals court later decided that Nacchio was incorrectly sentenced in 2007 because the trial judge wrongly calculated his gains from the sales -- a crucial factor in determining the sentence.

Nacchio was resentenced last year to five years and 10 months in prison -- two months less than before. He was also ordered to forfeit $44.6 million in proceeds from stock sales and pay a $19 million fine.

Maureen Mahoney, an attorney for Nacchio, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

It is our hope that with the action taken today by the defense, the criminal prosecution of Joseph Nacchio has effectively drawn to a conclusion, giving some closure to victims and others impacted by this crime, Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement.

(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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