(Associated Press via NewsEdge) The former CFO who helped perpetrate an $11-billion accounting fraud at WorldCom would not have to pay a dime to the Securities and Exchange Commission because his fortune had already been given up, regulators announced Thursday.
Disgraced WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan, serving a five-year prison term, had agreed in a settlement that he owed nearly $13.6 million in penalties for his role in the scandal at the telecom company.
But the SEC said in legal papers filed in a federal court in Manhattan that Sullivan would not be forced to pay because he was out of money.
The once high-flying executive previously surrendered his $11-million mansion in Boca Raton, Florida, to settle a class action lawsuit filed by disgruntled WorldCom investors. He also gave up his depleted WorldCom retirement account, leaving him with nothing for regulatory fines.
In a related case, the SEC also announced that a former WorldCom accountant had agreed to pay $128,806 to settle charges related to the company's bookkeeping fraud.
Mark P. Abide, WorldCom's former director of property accounting, agreed to a five-year suspension as part of the deal, which did not require him to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
c 2006 The Associated Press
c 2006 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved