Bernard Ebbers

The record

Compiled by the MrScandal desk from the documents below · Desk editor Laima Ērkšķe-Kreicberga · Nov 9, 2026

Bernard Ebbers built WorldCom out of Long Distance Discount Services, a company he and partners started in 1983 after the AT&T breakup, buying regional rivals with its stock. The biggest deal was MCI, announced in November 1997, for which WorldCom paid $37 billion in stock, then the largest takeover on record. A planned purchase of Sprint was abandoned in July 2000 after U.S. and European regulators moved to block it.

He resigned as chief executive in April 2002, with $366 million in personal loans from the company, an SEC investigation and the loss of board support among the reasons PBS Frontline lists. In June 2002 WorldCom admitted inflating its earnings by $3.8 billion, a figure that later rose to $9 billion, and in July it filed for bankruptcy. A superseding indictment unsealed in Manhattan in March 2004 charged him with conspiracy and securities fraud, the same day former finance chief Scott Sullivan pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate.

After a jury convicted him and the trial court sentenced him to 25 years in prison, the Second Circuit affirmed on July 28, 2006, in an opinion by Judge Ralph Winter. The court put the loss well above $1 billion, upheld the trial rulings he challenged, including on defense witness immunity, and called the sentence harsh but not unreasonable, noting that Sullivan's five-year term reflected his cooperation and subordinate role.

Roles and honours on the record

• 1983 Co-founder, Long Distance Discount Services (LDDS), the company that became WorldCom source
• until 2002 Chief Executive Officer and President, WorldCom source
• 2005-2006 Defendant-appellant, United States v. Ebbers, 458 F.3d 110 (2d Cir. 2006) source