Judge Nottingham Stays $19M Fine

Trial court Judge Edward Nottingham granted former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio’s unopposed motion to stay the fine that was part of Nacchio’s sentence. Judge Nottingham imposed the $19,000,000 fine during the sentencing hearing held on July 27. As a condition of the stay, Judge Nottingham required that Nacchio deposit $19,000,000 into the registry of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. The money is to be held in an interest-bearing account. The stay is permitted under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 38(c):

(c) Fine If the defendant appeals, the district court…may stay a sentence to pay a fine or a fine and costs. The court may stay the sentence on any terms considered appropriate and may require the defendant to: (1) deposit all or part of the fine and costs into the district court's registry pending appeal.

Both Nacchio’s motion to stay the fine and the order granting the stay can be found on the DU Corporate Governance Website.