Qwest may have withheld critical US West merger information

Spotted at CNN/Money, Reuters is reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission may be investigating the merger/acquisition works of US West and Qwest. The SEC believes that Qwest may have omitted expense information regarding costs relating to the acquisition of the former telco giant, making its earnings report look better than it actually should have, since Qwest should have taken a significant charge to purchase and integrate US West into its holdings.

This follows after Qwest is already under scrutiny for allegedly playing a bandwidth "shell game" with other providers to artificially adjust its earnings reports.

Qwest representatives naturally said that the allegations were "without merit", and we can assume that, should any charges be filed, they will be defended "vigorously".