Former Worldcom Inc. chief Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison today for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that helped push the giant telecommunications company into bankruptcy.
The sentence will mean that Ebbers, 63, will spend virtually the remainder of his life in prison. The former chief executive had agreed to forfeit most of his personal fortune in an effort to win a lighter sentence than the 85-year term requested by prosecutors.
Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones handed down the punishment saying, “I find that a sentence of anything less would not reflect the seriousness of this crime” in an account by Associated Press. Ebbers did not respond to the judge and showed no visible reaction.
In his testimony, Sullivan described how he doctored WorldCom’s books in the wake of the dot-com collapse beginning in 2000, and said Ebbers was fully aware of what he was doing. Sullivan recounted conversations in which he asked Ebbers to warn investors about WorldCom’s troubles, but his boss instead instructed him to “hit the numbers” that Wall Street expected.
Ebbers wanted to conceal WorldCom’s problems, prosecutors said, because he used his WorldCom stock as collateral for $400 million in personal bank loans. Revealing the extent of WorldCom’s troubles would have sent the stock reeling and forced Ebbers to sell his shares at deflated prices, prosecutors said.
Ebbers portrayed himself in homespun terms during two days on the witness stand. He testified that he got into the telecom business by chance when he invested with some friends in a Mississippi phone company that grew into Clinton, Miss.-based WorldCom through a series of mergers
WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection July 21, 2002, listing $104 billion in assets. That dwarfed Enron’s $63-billion bankruptcy filing the year before. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-071305ebbers_lat,0,6445491.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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Another corporate fraudster caught red handed how many more of these corporate big wig thieves and crooks are there, we will only really know when they are all caught, to all those that think fraud and corruption is reserved for the 3rd world and africa think again.**
Re: WorldCom's Owner Sentenced to 25 Years for Fraud!
Yippee...he used to si tin the office right next to mine during his trial in NYC. The retained lawyers subleased the space. Fker used to wlk around chewing a cigar all day. Now he will be having his teeth knocked out for nightly servicing of his cell mate, Sugah!!
Re: WorldCom’s Owner Sentenced to 25 Years for Fraud!
I don’t know if that is quite true. According to another news report, “to settle a civil suit filed by investors, Ebbers has already agreed to relinquish most of his personal wealth to partly compensate them for their losses. His personal assets are valued at $25 million to $40 million.”
By the way, on the parole comment above, here is what **MarketWatch**says about parole
AP) - NEW YORK-Bernard Ebbers, who as the once-swaggering CEO of WorldCom oversaw the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history, wept in court Wednesday when a judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison - the toughest sentence yet in the string of recent corporate scandals.
Ebbers, now 63, would go to prison in October and not be eligible for release until he was 85. The sentence was handed down by Judge Barbara Jones of U.S. District Court in Manhattan three years after WorldCom collapsed in an $11 billion accounting fraud, wiping out billions of investor dollars
find that a sentence of anything less would not reflect the seriousness of this crime," Jones said.
Ebbers sniffled audibly and dabbed at his eyes with a white tissue as he was sentenced. He did not address the court. His wife, Kristie Ebbers, cried quietly. Later, the two embraced as the courtroom emptied.
Jones ordered Ebbers to report to prison on Oct. 12. She said she would recommend Ebbers be designated to the federal prison in Yazoo City, Miss., close to his home.
The judge said she would accept written arguments from the lawyers on whether Ebbers should be allowed to remain free while he appeals the verdict.
Re: WorldCom's Owner Sentenced to 25 Years for Fraud!
This is terrible, the poor guy doesn't have anything anymore, he has a house, that his wife will take away then he will be left with 50k, thats all. Why on first place do something like this, that you die with dishonor. I feel bad, yet I think he deserves it. But on the other, who knows how many other ppl were involve in that. hamesha ghareeb hee pakra jata hai as they say :)
