EBBERS, Bernard

Bernard John Ebbers (1941–2020) built WorldCom from a small Mississippi telecommunications company into one of the world's largest corporations before its collapse in the largest accounting fraud in U.S. corporate history. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Ebbers moved to the United States for college and became involved in the telecommunications industry during the deregulation of the 1980s.

Under Ebbers' leadership, WorldCom pursued aggressive acquisition strategies throughout the 1990s, purchasing numerous competitors including MCI Communications for $37 billion in 1998. The company's rapid growth made Ebbers a billionaire and transformed WorldCom into the second-largest long-distance phone company in the United States behind AT&T.

As the telecommunications industry faced difficulties in the early 2000s, Ebbers directed subordinates to manipulate WorldCom's financial statements to maintain the appearance of growth and profitability. The fraud involved improperly capitalizing operating expenses as capital investments and inflating revenues through fictitious accounting entries, ultimately totaling over $11 billion in misstatements.

WorldCom filed for bankruptcy in July 2002, wiping out $180 billion in investor value and eliminating 20,000 jobs. Ebbers was convicted on nine felony counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, and filing false reports in 2005. He received a 25-year prison sentence and was ordered to forfeit $45 million in assets. Ebbers served 13 years in federal prison before being released in December 2019 due to declining health, dying two months later.