Judge officially imposes sentence on former Islanders co-owner

A federal judge in Manhattan has officially imposed her previously announced 20-year sentence for fraud on former New York Islanders co-owner Stephen Walsh, refusing a request for reconsideration.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum announced the sentence for Walsh, 70, of Sands Point, on Oct. 29. He hoped for a shorter term, and the judge gave him time to consider withdrawing his guilty plea. He decided not to, but asked her to reconsider.

"Application denied," she wrote in an order filed this week, ordering him to report to prison by Jan. 5.

Walsh, an Islanders executive and co-owner from 1991 to 2000, was accused of bilking investors in a partnership he ran. Prosecutors called it a $50 million fraud. Walsh pleaded guilty in April.