Fraud Doesn't Pay In The USA

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers is going down for 25 years of federal time for masterminding the accounting fraud that bankrupted the company. 25 years of real time, too:

If Ebbers loses his appeal, he would not be eligible for parole under stiff federal sentencing guidelines for white-collar crimes.

"This is effectively a life and a death sentence both," said attorney Scott Fredericksen, a former federal prosecutor who is now a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP. "A 63-year-old man is unlikely to survive this."

The next time someone gets on their high horse about American corporate greed vs. Canadian altruism, remind them of what happened to Bernard Ebbers.

We don't even give most murderers 25 years.

Source: MarketWatch