Securities fraud settlement could yield up to $45 million

By Erik Ricasa

Published on July 22, 2005

The agreement is pending approval by a U.S. District judge in Manhattan. The conditions of the settlement leave Ebbers with money to pay his legal fees and provide his wife with a modest allowance.

Ebbers assets include about $5 million in cash, a multimillion-dollar home in Mississippi, as well as interests in a trucking company, rice farm, lumber company, hotel, golf course, marina, and other real estate ventures.

Investors are to receive 75 percent of these assets. The remaining 25 percent will go to MCI, WorldCom's successor company. Ebbers is also required to pay $450,000 to former employees of both companies, whose retirement accounts were depleted following WorldCom's bankruptcy in 2002.

Ebbers is awaiting sentencing on his criminal conviction for securities fraud, conspiracy, and filing false documents with regulators.

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