March 15, 2005

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL:

WorldCom's Ebbers convicted of all counts (Associated Press, March 15, 2005)

Bernard Ebbers, who built WorldCom from a humble Mississippi long-distance firm into a telecommunications titan, was convicted today of engineering the colossal accounting fraud that sank the company.

A federal jury in Manhattan deliberated eight days before returning guilty verdicts on all charges including one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings — crimes carrying up to 85 years in prison.

When the verdict was read, Ebbers' face reddened. His wife, Christie, and other family members broke into tears. Afterward, Ebbers and his wife hailed a taxi outside the courthouse and left without speaking to reporters.

Sentencing was set for June 13.


Doesn't happen many places and should begin to put paid to the notion that the President and his Adminstration would protect white collar criminals.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 15, 2005 2:32 PM
Comments

hopefully ebbers will be held responsible for all the money he cost various stockholders; i.e. live in minimum material comfort.

Posted by: cjm at March 15, 2005 2:56 PM

With liberty for the well-behaved.

Posted by: ghostcat at March 15, 2005 3:53 PM

How much time did Ken Lay get? Oh...thats right...the Friend of Bush (FOB) exception.

Posted by: John Gillnitz at March 15, 2005 4:06 PM

Mr. Gillnitz:

His day is coming too:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-02-24-enron-trial-dates_x.htm

Posted by: oj at March 15, 2005 4:11 PM

its not surprising leftists are always killing themselves (pace hunter thompson) they are such a sour miserable lot. its never enough. gillnitz, what were the names of all the corrupt capitalists that were arrested during the clinton years ? oh yeah, i forgot, clinton pardons crooks and terrorists, not arrests them.

Posted by: cjm at March 15, 2005 7:45 PM

oj,
What's forgotten in all the rhetoric, the abuses, legal or not, were all committed during the Clinton years and prosecuteted during the Bush II years.
Mike

Posted by: Mike Daley at March 15, 2005 9:32 PM

Once Lay goes down, if you want to look at someone who has beaten the system in light of the revelations that have come out, then you're best bet is the Global Crossing scandal and Gary Winnick. But unless Howard Dean gets ticked off at the Clintons and Terry McAuliffe in the run-up to the 2008 primaries, I don't expect to see any major news stories about than angle when the top scammers of the 1990s tech boom are recounted.

Posted by: John at March 15, 2005 10:27 PM

John:

Congress and the SEC already took a pass on Global Crossing and Winnick (and, by extension, McAuliffe). Unless a private investor forces a civil suit, that's a dead horse. But someone is probably hiding something, no doubt.

Posted by: jim hamlen at March 16, 2005 10:57 AM
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