Ebbers is physically alive Ebbers is not going to be playing tennis or running a business. Five other WorldCom executives were convicted for their roles in the accounting fraud, including chief financial officer Scott Sullivan, who was a witness against Ebbers. Sullivan was sentenced to five years and served four with the remainder spent in home confinement. Sections U. Science Technology Business U. Ebbers, the former top executive sentenced to 25 years in prison in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.
Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. When Bernie Ebbers was ousted as WorldCom's chief executive in April in disgrace, it seemed only a matter of time before Scott Sullivan followed. The telecommunications company's year-old chief financial officer had formed a close partnership with the buccaneering Mr Ebbers as they turned the company into a leading force in the bull market.
WorldCom had used a steadily rising stock price underpinned by rising earnings to take over several companies. He seemed too important to the company to lose, exhibiting calmness under pressure, never losing his temper or being tripped up by a question from an analyst. He had an "extraordinary command of the facts and figures", says one person.
Just how extraordinary is now clear. That helped the company to sustain its apparently smooth and rapid earnings growth. The shock was all the greater because Mr Sullivan seemed to provide the trustworthy anchor to Mr Ebbers's flamboyance. He was the one that Wall Street and investors trusted - "the hardest worker in the history of the world" with "God's gift of being very bright", says one insider.
It has left those around him struggling for an explanation. Scott had a problem, not with Bernie, but with trying to please Bernie," says a former employee. The WorldCom culture, say those who worked there, was all about living up to Mr Ebbers's demands. Nothing else was acceptable - 'Go find a way to fix the problem'," says one. Another says: "Scott didn't want to admit to his mentor that he couldn't find a way to work the company through crisis, when the numbers started going south.
Mr Sullivan began his career as an auditor at KPMG, the same firm that nearly 20 years later would be given the task of trying to sort out the fraud he allegedly engineered. After graduating with high marks from Oswego State university in New York in , he left the accounting world four years later for telecoms. They made an odd pair physically. Although he had wrestled at school, Mr Sullivan was dwarfed by Mr Ebbers's basketball-playing physique.
While Mr Ebbers was happiest wearing his cowboy boots, Mr Sullivan stuck to suits. He was named chief financial officer in , a title replacing the more sober one of finance director. The CFO was supposed to be as much financial engineer as accountant. Sullivan, 43, was the prosecution's main witness against Ebbers, and the only person who testified that he discussed the WorldCom fraud directly with Ebbers.
The sentencing of Sullivan closes a chapter in the history of WorldCom, which grew into an international communication giant in the s though acquisitions, which were accomplished by leveraging the company's skyrocketing market capitalization. The WorldCom case revolved around accounting misstatements that were engineered to, among other things, bolster the company's share price.
WorldCom, now operating under the name MCI , filed for bankruptcy in July after disclosing that employees had falsified records to conceal losses and inflate earnings. Securities and Exchange Commission. During the past week, four other former WorldCom executives also were sentenced in the case.
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