The SEC has extracted an agreement with Qwest Communications to pay a $250m penalty. Settling securities-fraud charges was the aim. Qwest did not admit or deny any wrongdoing.

Two instalments of $125m will be paid 12 months apart. The first, 20 business days after the judgement.

After a $750m fine against WorldCom, Qwest's is the second largest in history.

The nature of the alleged misdemeanours has not been divulged. However, one possibility is that irregularities were so widespread the fine had to be massive.

The SEC has in recent year gained further powers under Sarbanes-Oxley to investigate companies. Additionally publicly listed companies such as Denver-based Qwest has to ensure that financial reporting controls are sufficiently robust to be trusted.

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