The deadline has come and gone for prosecutors to seek a delay of the Oct. 28 sentencing of former Veco chief executive Bill Allen, the FBI's key informant in the Alaska public corruption investigation.

No motion for a stay was filed in the public docket of U.S. District Court by the cutoff day Monday -- a federal holiday -- or on Tuesday. There was no way to determine whether motions to delay the sentencing of Allen and former Veco Vice President Rick Smith were filed under seal.

If nothing was filed in the sealed docket, Allen and Smith will soon learn their punishment for their influence-buying spree among the ranks of Alaska's elected Republican officials.

It's been nearly two and a half years since U.S. District Judge John Sedwick accepted Allen's and Smith's guilty pleas to bribery, conspiracy and tax violations. In the intervening time, Sedwick agreed to stay their sentencings seven times while the pair testified in trials and held extensive debriefings with federal agents and prosecutors.

But Sedwick said the delays have gone on long enough.

"Allen's crimes are significant ones which involve the integrity of the political process in the State of Alaska," Sedwick wrote in his July 7 order accepting the previous government-proposed delay but suggesting it should be the last. "The community has a substantial interest in seeing the imposition of punishment for these crimes without undue delay."

In that order, he told prosecutors and defense attorneys to prepare for sentencing by the end of October. If prosecutors felt they needed an additional delay, they would have to comply with a much tougher standard than before: They would have to file a detailed statement by Oct. 12 in which they would identify the potential defendants against whom Allen and Smith were providing information, the date by which a grand jury would indict the defendants, the districts in which they would tried, and the likelihood that Allen or Smith would be called to testify.

Because that information would be sensitive, he told prosecutors they could file a new delaying motion under seal.

Normally, a prosecutor has to ask a judge before submitting a sealed filing, a request that shows up in the public docket. It's unclear whether that same process would occur in this case because Sedwick already told prosecutors they could file under seal. It's possible they have asked for a delay and that only Sedwick knows about it.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. Sedwick didn't respond to a message left in his chambers.

Prosecutors often like to delay the sentencing of government witnesses as an incentive for their cooperation. By helping the government, a defendant can get a substantial reduction in prison time.

In his July order, Sedwick noted that the law also allows prosecutors to seek reduced prison time for a cooperating witness for up to a year after sentencing.

And in the case of Allen, the government has an additional hammer: Under Allen's plea deal, the government agreed to not charge his son, Mark, with crimes the FBI uncovered in the corruption investigation. If Allen stopped cooperating, his son could be in jeopardy.

In testimony about his plea deal in the 2008 trial of former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Bill Allen admitted his son paid off a legislator. While Allen didn't name the politician, former Rep. Beverly Masek, R-Willow, pleaded guilty in March to accepting an illegal cash payment of "several thousand dollars" from a relative of Allen's.

In addition to facing charges, a felony conviction would cost Mark Allen his New Mexico racehorse license. He is co-owner of 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and has a stable of race horses in Roswell, N.M.

Allen was the lead witness in Stevens' trial, and he and Smith testified in the trials of former House speaker Pete Kott, R-Eagle River, former Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla. Former Rep. Bruce Weyhrauch, R-Juneau, is awaiting trial on charges he conspired with Veco officials.

Allen has testified he made illegal payments to former state Senate President Ben Stevens, R-Anchorage. Ben Stevens, a son of Sen. Ted Stevens, has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing. U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, has also been under investigation over his connections to Veco, but has not been charged and has also denied wrongdoing.

Charges against Ted Stevens were thrown out when the Justice Department admitted it failed to turn over evidence favorable to the defense prior to trial. The same issue has led to the release of Kott and Kohring from prison while Sedwick decides whether to order new trials or dismiss charges.