Bernard Ebbers, the former WorldCom Inc. chief executive officer, was ordered freed from prison, almost eight years before he was due to be released, Bloomberg News reported. A federal judge in Manhattan yesterday granted compassionate release to Ebbers, who has served more than 13 years of a 25-year sentence for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that bankrupted the company. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni said Ebbers’s health is failing and that letting him out early doesn’t minimize the impact of his punishment. Ebbers was sentenced in 2005 for overseeing the fraud, which hid costs and shifted reserves to boost the company’s profits. After the scheme came to light, investors lost $180 billion in what was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in July 2002. The former CEO was scheduled to be released in July 2028 with credit for good behavior. It isn’t immediately clear when he will leave prison.
