A 25 Year Sentence

Some people are questioning the 25 year prison sentence given to former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers. U. S. District Judge, Barbara Jones was asked to go light because of the 63 yr. old's heart condition. Two weeks ago, Ebbers agreed to give aggrieved investors almost all of his remaining cash and assets — with an estimated value of as much as $45 million — in what legal experts viewed as a bid to win leniency from the judge. The guidelines called for a 30 yr. sentence but the judge deemed this excessive and reduced it to 25 yrs.

Is 25 yrs. too much for the biggest accounting fraud in U. S. History? How do you think the 30,000 people layed off by this would answer? Many former employees and investors were in court to follow the case. One of those laid off, Henry Bruen Jr., read a statement in court describing how the fraud ruined his career and cost him $800,000 in savings and assets.

A USA Today poll of 12,175 readers shows that 47% think that the sentence is just right, 39% think it's too short, and 14% think the sentence is too long. Frankly, I'm surprised that the judge gave him that much but I'm glad to see that they are no longer giving these white collar criminals just a slap on the wrist. I would have been happy if he got 15 yrs. but I wasn't effected by his fraudulent activities.

Maybe this tough sentence makes up for the acquittal last month of Health South Corp. founder Richard Scrushy who had been implicated in a $2.7 billion accounting scam. Next up is L. Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of Tyco International, who was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny in June and is awaiting sentencing. What will he get?

Maybe the harsher sentences will make these white collar criminals stop and think as to what kind of striped suits they are going to choose to wear.