Worldcom Agrees To Half A Billion Fine

from the that'll-hurt...-or-will-it? dept

As expected, Worldcom agreed to pay a fine to settle the SEC case against it for inflating their revenues by $11 billion. Some are stunned by the amount: a $500 million fine, which dwarfs the previous largest SEC accounting fraud settlement fine of $10 million. Of course, many are saying this really just amounts to a slap on the wrist, since Worldcom (er... now MCI) generates that much revenue in a week. The SEC says it's really a $1.5 billion fine, but due to the fact that the company is bankrupt, they've agreed to reduce it. The fine is supposed to be paid out to those who were impacted by the fraud - but it'll be interesting to see how they determine that. The judge in the case still hasn't approved the deal, so there's a chance this whole discussion is moot anyway.