Ex-WorldCom CEO To Start Prison Term

Former WorldCom Corp. chief Bernard Ebbers starts a 25-year federal prison sentence on Tuesday for his role in the $11 billion accounting fraud that toppled a company he had built from a tiny telecommunications firm to an industry giant.

Federal prison officials would not confirm Monday where Ebbers will serve his sentence, but the two closest prisons to his home are the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Facility in Mississippi or the Oakdale Correctional Complex in Louisiana.

Ebbers on Monday was at his upscale, brick and stucco home in a gated community in the Jackson suburb of Ridgeland. He refused to answer any questions and told an Associated Press reporter to leave.

"You're not even supposed to be on this property," said Ebbers, 65, who answered the door wearing a light blue golf shirt and blue jeans.

Ebbers walked outside, with a cigar in his mouth, to watch the reporter leave his property.

A federal judge has recommended that Ebbers serve time on fraud and conspiracy charges at a facility in central Mississippi, but there is no guarantee that's where he'll end up.

Ebbers, a former high school basketball coach, took a small telecommunications firm and transformed it into an industry giant before the Clinton, Miss.-based WorldCom collapsed in bankruptcy in 2002.

"My overall sense of it is it's just a sad day," said Clinton Mayor Rosemary Aultman, whose city dealt with the economic fallout of the scandal. "The collapse of WorldCom was a tragic ending to what had been a fabulous story. So I think the overwhelming emotion continues to be great sadness and disappointment."

Mike Truman, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman in Washington, said the location where Ebbers is to be imprisoned would remain secret until Ebbers is admitted.

Truman would not say where or when Ebbers would surrender to authorities.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones of New York told Ebbers during a sentencing hearing in July 2005 that she would recommend that federal prison officials assign him to the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Facility — about 50 miles northwest of Jackson — to make it easier for his family to visit him.

But even a judge's recommendation is no sure thing.

"It's a decision of the (prison) bureau," Truman said.

The federal prison system usually tries to place inmates at a facility within 500 miles of their homes. Ebbers is from Brookhaven in south Mississippi, and now lives in Ridgeland, just north of the state capital.

However, a variety of other factors are also considered when placing inmates.

Beside proximity, "violence, escape attempts, how many years the individual got, and also the bottom line is how many beds are available," Truman said. "We also try to take into consideration the judge's recommendation."

An announcement would be made Tuesday after Ebbers is processed, and the information would be made available in an "inmate locater" on a prison Web site on Wednesday, Truman said.

A search Monday of the federal prison database showed a listing for Ebbers' name, but said that he is not in prison custody.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Ebbers' conviction and sentence last month. His attorney has said they will continue to appeal, but he has few options, said Ron Rychlak, associate dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law.

"I understand they're going to ask the 2nd Circuit to reconsider the case on whole. Three judges heard the case against him originally and he could ask all the judges on the court to hear the case," Rychlak said. "It's pretty rare. The other thing would be to ask the Supreme Court to hear the case. That also is a very rarely granted situation."

Ebbers' attorney, Reid Weingarten, did not respond to a message left at his Washington office on Monday.