Ex-WorldCom CEO sentenced to 25 years in prison

CNN - Jul. 13, 2005: "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, effectively a life term for the 63-year-old, is the largest ever against a high-profile CEO found guilty 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 led to billions of dollars in losses for shareholders and employees.

Ebbers was convicted in March of nine felonies that carried a maximum prison term of 85 years.

Legal experts 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.

Last month 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 New York defense lawyer who represented Theodore Sihpol, a former Bank of America broker who was found not guilty last month in a closely-watched criminal case over mutual fund trading practices. Felder is a partner in the law firm Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner.

Unless the court of appeals overturns his conviction or revises his sentence, federal sentencing guidelines suggest that Ebbers could serve slightly more than 21 years if prison officials determine he's a model prisoner. "