Former Accountants Sentenced for Roles in WorldCom Fraud

An accounting executive who made some fraudulent entries in the books at WorldCom Inc. was sentenced Friday to five months in prison and five months of house arrest.

Betty Vinson, 49, who said she was pressured by superiors to make the false entries, had hoped to avoid prison time because she cooperated with the government in its prosecution of former WorldCom Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones noted that Vinson was among the lowest-ranking members of a conspiracy that led to the $11-billion fraud that sank the telecommunications firm in 2002. It emerged from bankruptcy protection as MCI Inc.

Still, the judge said, “Had Ms. Vinson refused to do what she was asked, it’s possible this conspiracy might have been nipped in the bud.”

A second former WorldCom accountant, Troy Normand, 38, was sentenced to three years’ probation. Neither Normand nor Vinson was ordered to pay a fine.

The sentence came after prosecutor David Anders told the judge that Normand, an accounting manager, was “at the very bottom” of the six people who have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the scandal.