Former WorldCom Finance Chief Gets Five Years
Scott Sullivan, WorldCom's former chief financial officer, leaves from the Federal Court in New York Aug. 11. hide caption
Former WorldCom finance chief Scott Sullivan is sentenced to five years in prison for his role in crafting the biggest accounting fraud in American history. The former chief financial officer had pleaded guilty in exchange for testifying against his boss, Bernie Ebbers.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
The business news starts with the end of the fight over Unocal.
Unocal has completed its deal with Chevron, an $18 billion buyout there.
Elsewhere in the business news today, prison time for a former WorldCom executive. Scott Sullivan gets five years for his role in the biggest accounting fraud in American history. WorldCom's former chief financial officer had pleaded guilty in exchange for testifying against his boss, Bernie Ebbers. NPR's Jim Zarroli was in the courtroom when the sentence was read, and he joins us now.
And, Jim, what did the judge say as she handed down that sentence?
JIM ZARROLI reporting:
Well, Judge Barbara Jones said she had to take the seriousness of the crime into account. She said that there was no question that Sullivan was the day-to-day manager of the fraud at WorldCom. He also, she said, took a lot longer to cooperate with prosecutors than some of the other witnesses did. But, she said, once he did cooperate, he was vastly important to the prosecution's case. The prosecutors themselves stood up this morning and basically said that. They said it wouldn't have been possible to bring Bernard Ebbers to justice without Scott Sullivan's testimony.
The judge said she also, you know, had to take into account the fact that Scott Sullivan's family--his wife has severe diabetes. She's now the sole caretaker of their young daughter. And the judge said she also had to take into account that he, Scott Sullivan, worked for Bernie Ebbers and he was really pressuring him to do all these things. So in light of that, prison time, but a lot less than he would have gotten otherwise.
INSKEEP: OK. That's NPR's Jim Zarroli in New York. Again, the news there: Scott Sullivan, formerly of WorldCom, will be spending five years in prison.
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