DENVER (AP) - A former Qwest Communications finance chief pleaded guilty to a single count of insider trading Thursday, the highest-ranking one-time executive to admit wrongdoing in the telephone company's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal.

Flanked by two attorneys, Robin Szeliga spoke in a soft monotone, her voice breaking just once as she answered the judge's questions about netting $125,000 on a stock sale by using financial information intentionally withheld from the public.

She acknowledged she is taking medication for depression but said she understood the plea and possible penalty. After the hearing, she left the courthouse without comment, free on bond pending her Nov. 4 sentencing.

Szeliga, 44, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, though the plea agreement recommends a term of 15 to 21 months. She agreed to pay $125,000 in restitution and to cooperate with prosecutors, which could prove valuable in their three-year investigation into accounting irregularities that forced Qwest to restate billions in revenue.

Acting U.S. Attorney William Leone said he was pleased with Szeliga's plea but declined to discuss specifics of her case or the ongoing investigation.

"I do feel like the charge we brought today or that she pleaded guilty to today, reflects a fair view of the evidence," he said.

Securities attorney Andrew Stoltmann of Chicago said Szeliga's agreement was a significant victory for prosecutors.

"Once the CFO flips, that is huge in any case that the Department of Justice is going after," Stoltmann said. "From the prosecutor's standpoint, they kind of use that CFO's knowledge to go after the CEO or anyone higher up than the CFO."

Former Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio is named in a civil lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission but does not face criminal charges. His attorney, Charles Stillman, said Nacchio maintains his innocence.

The SEC has said the fraud at Qwest Communications International Inc., the dominant local phone provider for 14 mostly Western states, occurred between April 1999 and March 2002, allowing it to improperly report approximately $3 billion in revenue that helped its 2000 merger with U S West.

Qwest later restated earnings from 2000 and 2001 to erase about $2.2 billion in revenue and then agreed last year to pay $250 million to settle SEC fraud charges in a deal that excluded individual officers. The company did not admit wrongdoing.

Szeliga joined Qwest in 1998 and was promoted to CFO in March 2001. She stayed in that job until 2002 when she became executive vice president of finance before resigning in August 2003.

In a 16-page plea agreement, Szeliga said she and other senior executives knew in late April 2001 that some business units would fail to meet revenue targets for the first six months of that year.

She said she and other executives also knew that Qwest improperly booked revenue from one-time sales of equipment and fiber-optic swaps as recurring to meet those targets. Szeliga sold 10,000 shares of stock at $41 per share on April 30, 2001, earning a net profit of $125,000.

Leone declined to identify the other executives outlined in the agreement.

In addition to Nacchio, Szeliga and five other former executives also were accused by the SEC of orchestrating massive financial fraud. The SEC wants all to repay an amount to be determined at trial and civil penalties, though it has reached an undisclosed deal with Szeliga.

The lawsuit blamed Nacchio and others of pressuring employees to meet revenue and earnings goals through bogus sales procedures. The SEC said Nacchio, Szeliga and former CFO Robert Woodruff were the scheme's overseers.

The SEC also alleged the three cashed in Qwest shares during this time, profiting by roughly $300 million.

Nacchio recently asked a judge to dismiss the SEC charges against him, arguing that the allegations "is not the stuff of securities fraud."

The Justice Department investigation of Qwest began in February 2002. Szeliga initially was a witness, testifying before a House subcommittee and later at the conspiracy and fraud trial of four former midlevel managers involved in an Internet deal involving Arizona schools.

Of the defendants, two were acquitted, another was sentenced to probation and the fourth is expected to receive probation.

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