Former WorldCom Accounting Director Receives a Year-and-a-Day Prison Term

Former WorldCom director of general accounting Buford Yates received a prison term of one year and a day from U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones for  his role in the massive accounting fraud at the company.  By having the extra day added to the sentence, Yates is eligible for the 15% good time credit to reduce his term by a little less than two months. According to an AP story (here), Judge Jones described Yates as "perhaps the lease useful" of the cooperating witnesses against former CEO Bernie Ebbers because he appeared to be reluctant to "upset the applecart" at WorldCom.  Yates did not testify at Ebbers' trial, unlike the other four WorldCom employees who entered into plea agreements.  The two former senior WorldCom executives, controller David Myers and CFO Scott Sullivan, will be sentenced over the next two days.  As the sentences have progressed for the five cooperators, each defendant has received approximately six months more than the previous one, so we'll see if that trend holds in the next sentencing. (ph)