Serious Money, Serious Time

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard J. Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years for securities fraud, conspiracy and seven counts of filing false reports with regulators stemming from the $11 billion accounting fraud that is considered the largest in history. Ebbers' attorney, Reid Weingarten, tried to downplay the significance of the numbers in this morning's hearing:

During the hearing this morning, Mr. Ebbers' lawyer said that it was difficult to put a figure on the losses to the company or investors.
The judge responded: "The loss figure in this case, it seems to me, in no way can be said to overstate the seriousness of the fraud."