Just what are the sentencing guidelines here, anyway?

Submitted by kebernet on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 13:09

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Business

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bernard Ebbers, the former CEO of WorldCom, was found guilty Tuesday for his role in the mammoth accounting scandal that resulted in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. A federal jury in New York, on its eighth day of deliberations, convicted Ebbers on all nine counts that he helped mastermind a $11 billion accounting fraud at WorldCom, now known as MCI. Ebbers, 63, had been charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of filing false statements with securities regulators. He faces up to 85 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines are expected to result in a much shorter term. CNN

So, do you have to do $11 TRILLION in fraud to get the max? I mean, what is the scale here? It seems to me 11 billion-friggin-dollars is pretty much the highest rung of fraud on the great ladder of frauds.

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RE: Just what are the sentencing guidelines here, anyway?

Submitted by atrox (not verified) on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 13:20.

Hell man, at least there was a trial, and at least there is a guilty.

RE: Just what are the sentencing guidelines here, anyway?

Submitted by Shmooze (not verified) on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 15:59.

Yeah it's a shame they didn't catch him with a few ounces of pot - then they really could have locked him away.

RE: Just what are the sentencing guidelines here, anyway?

Submitted by cooper (not verified) on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 16:06.

I just find it hilarious. Let's take Martha Stewart, for example: $30,000 - 5 months at a bad summer camp where she drops a few pounds. If she had stolen $150 from a liquorstore, it would have been 5 years in the pound me in the ass prison.

RE: Just what are the sentencing guidelines here, anyway?

Submitted by Andy (not verified) on Tue, 03/15/2005 - 23:02.

Well, let's use the Martha scale. It says that for a wealthy, high-profile white collar criminal, $30,000 is worth 5 months, or $6,000 per month in jail. Then by my math, $11,000,000,000 should be worth approximately 152,778 years. Maybe take a few off for good behavior, time served, whatnot.