From NY Times via Truthout:
" Bernard J. Ebbers, the founder and former chief executive of WorldCom, was sentenced to 25 years in prison today for his role in an $11 billion accounting fraud that brought down the telecommunications company in 2002.
As WorldCom's chairman and chief executive, Mr. Ebbers was accused for orchestrating the largest corporate fraud in United States history, an accounting scheme that inflated the company's profits by $11 billion over several years.
With the money it raised from investors who bought its high-flying stock, WorldCom acquired dozens of other businesses, and competitors like AT&T overhauled their own operations to try to keep pace with its phantom earnings."
It was excellent to see that Mr. Ebbers received such a stiff penalty and even more refreshing that the prosecution sought life in prison for this crime. As WorldCom acquired dozens of businesses, competitors were overhauled and people were fired because they couldn't keep up with WorldCom only WorldCom was on super steroids and there was no ethical, legal, commercial, capitalistic way to compete. As a result, companies merged, folded, divisions and parts of companies were purged, assets sold and every day Americans pink slipped. Then, when the company was found to be fraudulent, WorldCom stockholders suffered mightily.
posted by niteskolar @ 7:59 PM
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