An appeals court has issued a last-minute order staying an author and infomercial pitchman’s 30-day jail sentence for unleashing a flood of e-mails that locked up a federal judge’s computer and his BlackBerry.
Author Kevin Trudeau says he learned of the stay 25 minutes before the hearing at which he had been expecting to be jailed.
U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman, who is presiding over a legal battle between the Federal Trade Commission and Trudeau, last week found the infomercial king in criminal contempt after he urged his supporters to deluge Gettleman with e-mails decrying the federal case. He ordered the 30-day sentence.
The appeals judges did not say why they ordered the stay.
Gettleman also cut a $50,000 fine against Trudeau to $5,000.
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