Ebbers sentenced to 25 years in prison

“This was not a minor fraud,” she said. “Mr. Ebbers committed a fraud that caused numbers of investors to suffer losses. His statements deprived investors of the truth about WorldCom’s financial condition.”

Defense lawyer Reid Weingarten had asked for leniency, mentioning Ebbers’ heart condition and his considerable, often anonymous, charitable works, cited repeatedly in 169 letters sent to the judge.

“If you live 60-some-odd years, if you have an unblemished record, if you have endless numbers of people who attest to your goodness, doesn’t that count? Doesn’t that count particularly on this day?” Weingarten said.

The judge could have imposed an even stricter sentence had she found that Ebbers committed perjury when he testified in his own defense.

FREE VIDEO Worker weighs in July 13: Robert Hudspeth, a former WorldCom executive, discusses his feelings about his former boss being sentenced to 25 years in prison. CNBC

On the stand, Ebbers told jurors he never knew of the fraud. Asked about documents he reviewed that showed highly suspicious financial figures that tipped off the fraud, Ebbers said, “I just didn’t see it.”

Jones said it was not clear Ebbers had committed perjury, and said jurors could have believed his testimony and still convicted if they believed he intentionally looked the other way as the fraud took place.

The judge also heard briefly from Henry J. Bruen Jr., a former high-ranking sales executive at WorldCom who lost his job in 2003 and said he has been unable to find work since, putting him through “sheer hell.”

“Where do I get my life savings back from?” he demanded. “Or my career reinvigorated?”

Jones did not impose a fine or seek restitution, partly because of an agreement late last month under which Ebbers will forfeit nearly all his personal assets to settle a civil suit filed by aggrieved investors.

Under that settlement, Ebbers’ wife will be left about $50,000 of Ebbers’ assets and a modest home in Jackson, Miss. A far more lavish family home in Brookhaven, Miss., will be sold off as part of the settlement.

“Simply put, justice was served,” said New York state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, the lead plaintiff in the civil suit against WorldCom, which has racked up $6 billion in settlements.

The 25-year term is the harshest yet as corporate executives have been paraded through American courtrooms in a series of eye-popping business scandals that have cost investors untold billions.

A former finance executive of Dynegy Inc., Jamie Olis, is serving 24 years in prison for his role in a fraudulent accounting scheme at the Enron-linked energy company.

And last month, Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John Rigas was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the looting and fraud at that company. His son, former finance chief Timothy Rigas, got 20 years.

Two top executives at Tyco International Ltd. convicted of stealing from company coffers are awaiting sentencing in August, and three top Enron executives go on trial in Houston early next year.

Ebbers is the highest-ranking of six WorldCom executives and accountants who were charged by federal prosecutors in the fraud. The other five face sentencing in late July and early August.

Among them will be Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer under Ebbers, who testified at Ebbers trial that he carried out the fraud but said he did so on Ebbers’ orders.

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