TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Did The "System" Work Correctly, or Not?

Re: Did The "System" Work Correctly, or Not?

David Wolff (dwolffxx@panix.com)
Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:10:31 +0000 (UTC)

In article <telecom25.345.3@telecom-digest.org>, Doug Simpson, AP
<ap@telecom-digeet.org> wrote:

> Ex-WorldCom CEO Ebbers reports to prison
> By DOUG SIMPSON Associated Press Writer
> Copyright 2006 The Associated Press

> OAKDALE, La. -- Former WorldCom Corp. chief Bernard Ebbers drove through
> the gates of a federal prison Tuesday to begin a 25-year federal prison
> sentence on Tuesday for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud
> that toppled a company he built from a tiny telecommunications firm to
> an industry giant.

[big snip]

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, did the justice system in America
> work the way it should in this case? If you take his present age of
> 65, add a 25 year sentence to that, he will get out of prison at the
> age of 90, if he lives that long, which is quite doubtful. An almost
> 'untouchable' man five years ago, and quite powerful, Ebbers has now
> been brought down, although I am not sure it was entirely his fault.
> Given the dishonest sales tactics of so many people telemarketing MCI
> service over the years, I imagine a lot of them are today thanking
> and praising God that _they_ were not selected instead of or in
> addition to Ebbers. He said several times at his trial that he mostly
> was a 'rubber stamp' on actions taken by his employees. PAT]

To me this sounds like a Kafka-esque reversal of "I was just following
orders". This guy had the authority, the responsibility, and the
paycheck to be in charge.

At least we can now say that the Feds weren't just picking on Martha
Stewart.

Thanks --

David

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