Bernie Ebbers dead at 78

Bernie Ebbers, the disgraced former CEO of Worldcom has died at the age of 78, according to a family attorney.

Ebbers was the brains behind one of America’s biggest accounting frauds.

He received an early release from his 25-year prison sentence in Dcember, because family members said he was suffering from dementia and was legally blind.

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Ebbers served 13 years of his sentence.

Worldcom was a veritable household name in 2001 as one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. A popular portfolio stock, Worldcom made moves to falsely inflate its earnings on its profit and loss statement by nearly $4 billion.

BERNIE EBBERS, BRAINS BEHIND HISTORIC FRAUD SCHEME, TO BE FREED FROM PRISON

Under Ebbers, the company spread out expenses in smaller amounts over several years instead of reporting them immediately to investors. As a result, in 2001, the company reported a mind-boggling $1.4 billion profit. Had the operating costs been correctly reported, Worldcom would have lost money for fiscal 2001 as well as first-quarter 2002.

Ebbers had been serving his time in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.

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