Rodent Regatta

This business alert from the Wall Street Journal hit my email about 11:30 a.m. today:

Ebbers was found guilty on all counts for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud that brought down WorldCom. The former CEO could spend the rest of his life in prison.

In no investment have I ever lost as much money as with WorldCom. When you heap a fraud of this magnitude upon the difficulties created by failing to merge and integrate a hundred or more software systems, you don’t get much good.

I don’t wish a long prison stay for this 63 year-old, because the lost pride and the lost riches have clearly taken their toll. However, something must be done to discourage those who haven’t yet achieved real riches from using this path.

* * * UPDATE * * * By 1:30 p.m. the Wall Street Journal had sent this:

Securities regulators sued Joseph P. Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications, and six other former executives, accusing them of engaging in a “massive financial fraud.”