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June 10, 2005
Ebbers' plea for leniency
It typically does not make news when a federal defendant asks for leniency. But when that defendant is former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers, then CNN and the AP and the CBC and the NY Times and the Washington Post are all over the story.
Interestingly, the brief that Ebbers' legal team filed in US District Court on Friday was "accompanied by 169 letters of support written by his friends and beneficiaries of his charitable donations," and it cited "the 63-year-old's good character, age, poor health and low risk of repeat offense as reasons to impose less than the 'draconian life sentence' under the sentencing guidelines."
UPDATE: Peter Henning at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog is boldly predicting in this post that Ebbers' sentence "will be in the 8-10 year range."
June 10, 2005 at 06:55 PM | Permalink
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» Ebbers Seeks Leniency in Sentencing from White Collar Crime Prof Blog
Former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers submitted a brief to U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones seeking leniency in sentencing so that the court does not sentence the 63-year old to what would be a life term. [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 11, 2005 5:59:58 AM
Comments
I am appalled that the judge would even consider lowering the sentence for Bernie Ebbers. Of course, I am speaking from the financial and emotional damage that I have experienced due to the greediness of all involved in WorldCom's downfall. I have lost all of my 401K and WorldCom stock and stock options that were given as an employee benefit. Of course, first and foremost I lost my job as did many on that fateful June 28th just before they claimed Bankruptcy. We even had to fight to get our severance settlements and some are still fighting to this day. People not only lost their jobs but their homes, cars, etc.....which are essential in getting another job and continuing a "life". Bernie needs to feel the ripples of the effect he had on nameless, faceless, and blameless people in his employee or those who invested in him and trusted him. We need to show Corporate America that the price for GREED is HIGH
Posted by: Pamela Vargo | Jun 26, 2005 9:40:26 AM
Kudos to Judge Barbara Jones for doing the right thing! 25 years is a fair sentence and sets an example to others tempted to be overcome by greed.
-- A WorldCom stockholder
Posted by: Lori Marino | Jul 14, 2005 8:55:52 AM
So Bernie gets a life sentence while the real criminal gets 5 YEARS!! Just because he was the first to say that it was the other guy. Look at the SEC records. Who sold all of their stock and who hung on to theirs? Scott Sullivan gets off with practically no time and almost a billion dollars in stock that he sold right about the time he was cooking the books. Coincidence? (I was looking for an email address for the sentencing judge when I came across this blog)
Posted by: Pam Moore | Aug 14, 2005 10:29:21 PM
Posted by: | Oct 14, 2008 11:15:39 AM