After eight days of jury deliberation, former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents which led to the massive $11 billion accounting fraud at the telecommunications carrier. Ebbers, 63, faces up to 85 years in prison. His sentencing has been scheduled for June 13. Ebbers, was forced out in April 2002, just months before the largest accounting fraud in U.S. history began to unravel. The Clinton, Miss.-based WorldCom was eventually forced into bankruptcy. At his trial in federal court here, Ebbers portrayed himself as "unschooled in accounting," and therefore not sophisticated enough in financial matters to gauge what was going on at the company. His defense team had tried to portray former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan as the engineer behind the WorldCom fraud. Sullivan, who pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence, was expected to be sentenced following the completion of the Ebbers trial. Ebbers still faces civil litigation, which will include MCI - the new post-bankruptcy incarnation of WorldCom -- which backed Ebbers' roughly $400 million in personal loans when Bank of America demanded larger collateral when the company's stock price began plunging.
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Speedy sentencing; WWTF; no longer Confident; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
57m ago -
The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department released final regulations on the transfer of clean energy manufacturing, investment and production tax credits, with specific rules for partnerships and S corporations.
5h ago -
Sens. Cassidy and Warren teamed up to introduce legislation aimed at making math error notices from the IRS easier to understand.
6h ago -
A recent experiment tested different generative AI models against each other on the CPA Exam and found they each have their own strengths and weaknesses.
10h ago -
Firms must transform their business models to afford the cost of multilayered retention strategies, a new report by the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs says.
April 25 -
The IRS has long offered alternative dispute resolution, but says use has declined in recent years, and it hopes to make it more attractive and accessible.
April 24