Today, in a Denver courtroom packed with former US West and Qwest employees who lost their savings in the bankruptcy of the company, a federal judge sentenced the former chief executive who presided over the company’s demise to six years in prison.

Judge Edward Nottingham also ordered the ex-CEO, Joseph Nacchio, to pay a $19 million fine and forfeit $52 million in assets he gained from illegal stock sales.

In administering his sentence the judge summed it all up by saying, “The crimes the defendant has been found guilty of are crimes of overarching greed.”

Commentary: Chalk up another win to the Feds for this sentence. This is definitely a longer sentence than many expected (as the maximum that he could have received, seven years and three months, was only slightly more than he actually got).