Abstract
CEOs around the world slept less easy after 13 July 2005 when Bernard J. Ebbers, founder and former chief executive of WorldCom, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for orchestrating the biggest corporate fraud in US history. For the 63-year-old Ebbers, a man in poor health, this – as the judge acknowledged – was effectively a life sentence. Coming hard on the heels of the tough sentences handed down to John Regas, the 80-year-old founder of Adelphi Communications (15 years), and his son Timothy (20 years) for the fraud in that company, it demonstrated clearly the US government’s determination to crack down on white-collar crime
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Notes
1 Jack Grubman and Sheri McMahon,’MCI Worldcom Inc.’, Salomon Smith Barney research report (20 August 1999).
2 Thomas Catan, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Peter Thal Larsen, and Juliana Ratner. ‘Bernie Ebbers – Before the Fall’, Financial Times (18 December 2002).
3 Stephanie Kirchgaessner, and Richard Waters. ‘Death of Bull Market Leaves Ebbers in the Dust’, Financial Times (25 April 2002).
4 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
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9 Lynne W. Jeter, Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom (New York: Wiley, 2003).
10 MCI executive quoted in Lynne W. Jeter, Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom (New York: Wiley, 2003).
11 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
12 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
13 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
14 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
15 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
16 SSB research report (16 November 1998), p. 3.
17 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
18 Third and Final Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (January 2004).
19 Richard C. Breeden, ‘Restoring Trust’, Report on corporate governance for the future MCI Inc. (August 2003).
20 Richard C. Breeden ibid.
21 Report of Investigation by the Special Investigative Committee of the Board of Directors of WorldCom Inc. (March 2003).
22 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
23 Report of Investigation by the Special Investigative Committee of the Board of Directors of WorldCom Inc. (March 2003).
24 Report of Investigation by the Special Investigative Committee of the Board of Directors of WorldCom Inc. (March 2003).
25 Brooke A., Masters, ‘Ebbers Called Hands-on: Former CFO Describes WorldCom Boss as “Micromanager”’, Washington Post (8 February 2005).
26 Speech by Richard Breeden at the Compliance Solutions trade show as reported by Colin C. Haley in ‘Corporate Monitor of WorldCom Slams Ebbers’, www.internetnews.com. (8 October 2003).
27 Stephen Taub, ‘The Most Overpaid CFOs?’, CFO.com (6 December 2002).
28 Report of Investigation by the Special Investigative Committee of the Board of Directors of WorldCom Inc. (March 2003).
29 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
30 Second Interim Report of Dick Thornburgh, Bankruptcy Examiner (June 2003).
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© 2006 Stewart Hamilton and Alicia Micklethwait
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Hamilton, S., Micklethwait, A. (2006). WorldCom: Disconnected. In: Greed And Corporate Failure. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-50275-8_4
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