Boy, some days I come to this medium so unprepared for the news that awaits me here. Like today. Such sad news and me, without my hanky--or a tissue even! I could feel my eyes moistening as I read the sentence handed down to former Worldcom CEO Bernie Ebbers.Back in the late 90's, in those days of stock market "irrational exuberance," I owned a few shares of MCI-Worldcom. Without much market savvy, I relied on the glowing recommendations of "go-go" analysts and the rosy growth projections of Worldcom's charismatic leader Ebbers.
Most of my investments from back then resemble the Fallujah boneyards today after the incursion remnants of the U.S. military in that former city. But I actually made a couple of bucks on Worldcom. One of my "genius" investments. I was lucky on that one. Many weren't.
So Bernie Ebbers learned his fate today for an $11 billion scam on former investors and employees of Worldcom. He would serve 25 years in prison. "Even with possible time off for good behavior, Ebbers, 63, and with what his lawyers describe as serious heart problems, would remain locked up until 2027, when he would be 85."
Oh, seeing Ebbers leave the courtroom in tears! And that's where I got so choked up. That we would sentence an elderly man with a serious heart condition, to 25 years in prison. He may never live to see the light of freedom again. Just for impacting the lives of tens of thousands of trusting employees and investors. I hope you didn't come to this commentary without a handkerchief.
And what ever happened to?
Which reminded me of Enron's CEO Ken Lay. Or as Bush once liked to call him, "Kenny Boy!" Can we ever expect to see him brought to justice? Maybe that was Ebber's mistake. He was part of the "old school" management techniques that ultimately hold those of authority accountable. Compare that with Enron's "Kenny Boy" Lay who appears to be part of that new management style, much like our present leadership in Washington that is accountable to no one, responsible for nothing.
Or maybe the sad news for Worldcom's poor Bernie Ebbers today resulted just because he didn't know Bush better. Maybe if Ebbers had been known to Bush as "Bernie Boy" all of this prison shit coulda been avoided?
5 comments:
Nice post.
Got here from Feedster (the blog search engine).
Of course, (Bernie) "Evers" is spelt "Ebbers".
I have little sympathy for him, either. My father was employed by Worldcom for awhile, up until a few months before their scandals were made public. You got lucky by getting out at the right time; others didn't make it off so well.
Anonymous.....thanks for correcting me on "Ebbers". that was terribly careless of me, but I guess it was all those tears blurring my vision as I was typng that.
cb: How sad, the thousands upon thousands of lives impacted by the likes of Ebbers, Lay, etc. Hope your dad got out without suffering too much from the Ebbers scam.
It's a tragedy! He had to give up his 40 million dollar nest egg and do you think his trophy wife will stick with him after he lost all his money? I'm guessing he managed to hide some off shore or in a Swiss bank. Still that trophy wife won't sit home pining while he's in prison. So sad. Such a tragedy.
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