Bernard Ebbers, the former CEO of WorldCom, was found
guilty yesterday of orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud
that triggered the biggest bankruptcy in corporate history. He
could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
There were two main questions for jurors. Firstly, did
WorldCom's Chief Financial Officer, who pleaded guilty to
securities fraud last year, falsely blame Ebbers to reduce his own
sentence? And secondly, could Bernie Ebbers really not have known
about the massive fraud taking place right under his nose?
After eight days' deliberation, the New York jury returned its
verdict, finding Ebbers guilty on all nine counts of securities
fraud, conspiracy, and filing false documents with regulators.
In theory, the maximum sentence that Ebbers could face is 85
years. But speaking to the
BBC
, George Newhouse, a
lawyer who specialises in white-collar criminal defence with US
firm Thelen Reid & Priest, predicted between five and 10
years.
