Ebbers guilty of WorldCom fraud
Print storyAppeal expected
Posted in Financial News, 15th March 2005 19:44 GMT
Tune into our application security webcast, click here
Bernie Ebbers did mastermind the $11bn (£5.8bn) book fiddling that torpedoed US telco WorldCom, a New York jury decided today.
After more than a week of mulling, the jury ruled that Ebbers was behind the scandal that led to the collapse of WorldCom in 2002.
In the end it was Ebbers' word against that of former CFO Scott Sullivan. Sullivan - who had already pleaded guilty to his part in the fraud and was the star prosecution witness - said Ebbers was obsessed with hitting the numbers and drove the fraud.
Ebbers said he had no knowledge of the accounting scandal. The jury believed Sullivan.
Ebbers is due to be sentenced on June 13 and faces up to 85 years in jail. His defence team is already planning an appeal. ®
Related stories
Ebbers was 'leader of the con'
Ebbers was 'intimidating' boss
Ebbers failed to tell of book fiddling
Ebbers 'drove Worldcom fraud' - Sullivan
See what The Register's experts have to say on application security
Can Outsiders Enhance Exchange?
The future of SaaS and IT infrastructure management
Solving on-premise email challenges with on-demand services
The business case for application security
Reducing messaging and web security costs with managed services
Win a Samsung C6625!
Is your cameraphone an oxymoron?
Reg Mobile and Wireless newsletter is go! go! go!
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter