Bernie Ebbers – Worldcom
They called him the 'Telecom Cowboy.' Then he rustled up one of the nation's biggest accounting fraud.
Bernie Ebbers co-founded WorldCom and grew it wildly through takeover sprees until it collapsed in 2002 under the weight of its massive debts.
The company’s biggest deal was acquiring MCI Communication in 1998, but in 2000, regulators objected to its plans to buy Sprint Corp.
The merger game was over, and with it, the creative merger accounting that helped WorldCom cook its books. WorldCom was the second-largest long-distance phone company behind AT&T when it filed bankruptcy in 2002.
When Ebbers wasn’t lording over an $11 billion accounting fraud – at the time one of the largest in U.S. history – he taught Sunday-school at Easthaven Baptist Church in Brookhaven, Miss.
“No one will find me to have knowingly committed fraud,” he promised fellow church members, who then gave him a standing ovation.
As a proud Christian, he often opened corporate meetings in prayer. He apparently didn’t pray too hard for forgiveness.
During his trial, Ebbers put forth an “I don’t know … I don’t recall … I don’t remember” defense, blaming subordinates for the company’s audacious accounting stunts.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison after convictions on fraud and conspiracy charges.
He’d been known as the “Telecom Cowboy” for his preferred attire of boots and jeans. He liked to drive a tractor on his farm, but when it was time to report to prison, he drove his Mercedes.
Ebbers served 13 years of his time, released early because of his declining health. He died a month later in February 2022.