The US Supreme Court yesterday rejected ex-Qwest Communications CEO Joe Nacchio’s appeal of his 2007 insider-trading conviction, ending his final bid to get the conviction overturned.

Nacchio reported to prison in April to serve a six-year sentence for selling $52 million in Qwest shares in 2001 while he knew the company was facing financial problems.

The high court, without comment, left in place a lower court ruling that upheld Nacchio’s conviction on 19 counts of insider trading. The justices previously rejected an emergency appeal from Nacchio in April.

Other aspects of Nacchio’s case remain unsettled in the lower courts after the Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this summer that Nacchio’s sentence was calculated incorrectly and should be shortened.