The 1990s high tech bubble took years to inflate and appears to finally be at its last gasps. Two more tech executives indicted for crimes during that era have had legal appeals rejected this week, ensuring they will continue to serve prison terms.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by former Qwest chief executive Joseph Nacchio to overrule his 2007 conviction on insider trading charges. Nacchio's hopes had soared this summer when the high court sought his file, indicating it might review his case.

Nacchio, who has been serving a six-year term in a Pennsylvania prison, has another appeal pending. An appeals court is planning to review the term and the $52 million fine after the court ruled that a lower court had improperly sentenced Nacchio. His lawyers have said they believe his penalty will be reduced.

Bids by executives of Adelphia Communications, too, were denied in an appeals court decision revealed this week. The executives, John Rigas and his son Timothy, lost their bid in an opinion issued by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. They were seeking to have their sentences reduced from 15 years for John Rigas and 20 years for Timothy Rigas. They were charged after an accounting scandal at Adelphia was revealed.

In another recent case involving the telecommunications bubble, Joseph Hirko, the former chief executive of Enron's former Internet unit, was sentenced in September to 16 months for lying about the value of the unit. Four additional executives of the Enron unit have been charged and the status of three is still to be decided in future court proceedings. One of the four was acquitted.

Also this week, several Wall Street underwriting firms charged with pumping up stock prices during the bubble settled a class action case for $586 million. Many high tech IPOs figured in the settlement. The case covered eight years of protracted litigation.

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