Now, if they can only get Kenneth Lay and crew sentances at least as long. I wish they could/would also get those energy traders they have on tape as well, where they are laughing about defrauding California out of multiple billions of dollars in their manufactured energy crisis of a few years back.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ex-WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the biggest corporate fraud in the nation's history.
Legal experts said the sentence is the largest ever against a top executive convicted of committing corporate crimes.
Ebbers was convicted in March for his part in the $11 billion accounting fraud at WorldCom that was the biggest in a wave of corporate scandals at Enron, Adelphia and other companies.
WorldCom, now known as MCI, filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2002. The company's collapse cost shareholders and employees billions of dollars in losses.
Ebbers, 63, was convicted in March of nine felonies that carried a maximum prison term of 85 years.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Jones ordered Ebbers to begin serving his sentence in October.
It's not yet known where he will be incarcerated, but the Bureau of Prisons has a policy of placing inmates within 500 miles of their homes, if possible.
In issuing the sentence, Judge Jones recommended a prison in Yazoo City, Miss.
Ebbers had asked for leniency, arguing that his heart problems, history of community service and personal financial losses from WorldCom's collapse warranted a lighter sentence.
Legal experts said they were not surprised by the stiff sentence. They pointed to a series of harsh punishments that have come down in recent years, including the sentences that came down last month for two former Adelphia Communications executives.
John Rigas, Adelphia's founder, and his son Timothy, the cable company's former chief financial officer, got 15 years and 20 years, respectively.
"When it comes to issues of fraud committed by chief executive officers, judges are very emphatic in trying to set a harsh tone," said Barry Felder, a partner in the law firm Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner.
...asked for leniency, arguing that his heart problems... warranted a lighter sentence.
Gaazy wrote:Now vonk on the other hand, is one of the most self absorbed know it alls in my memory of this site. Ive always thought so, and I still cant understand why in gods name he is here
I agree, he deserves all 25 years in prision, and I do believe he should have to repay all bonuses recieved, all stock options & gains, and his salary for all the years back they can trace it to. Since it's a corporation there is a limited liability to what he personally owes, so I doubt you would get much more out of him.
If nothing else, if they really want to make a point with him, break out the chair and fire it up. No matter what they do to him the reprocussions from his actions have ruined thousands of lives in jobs, financial stability, and loss of their retirement.
On Monday, a judge agreed to a settlement of a shareholder lawsuit. The settlement will see Ebbers forfeit most of his personal assets, which includes about $5 million US in cash. Ebbers will sell a luxury home in Brookhaven, Miss. His wife will be allowed to live in a modest home in another Mississippi town and keep about $50,000 US in assets.
Ironfang wrote:Hahah, not a chance when almost nobody gets caught and you can make $30 million + doing it.
Good to see this asshole get caught and fried tho. I lost a lot of coin on the Worldcom fiasco and would much rather have my money back.
Hear from Charles lately?
--R. 'hee hee hee'
Rust Martialis -- Spiritwatcher of War/Valorguard/The Nameless
"There are angels on our curtains; they keep the outside out. And there are lions on our curtains; they lick their wounds, they lick their doubt." -- 'Curtains', Peter Gabriel
