26 Facts About Bernard Ebbers

Bernard John Ebbers was a Canadian businessman and the co-founder and CEO of WorldCom.

In December 2019, Bernard Ebbers was released from Federal Medical Center, Fort Worth, due to declining health, having served 13 years of his 25-year sentence, and he died just over a month later.

Bernard Ebbers lived on a farm and loved to drive a tractor.

Bernard Ebbers was born in Edmonton, Alberta, the second of five children of Kathleen and John Bernard Ebbers, a traveling salesman.

When Bernard Ebbers was young, the family moved to California and later lived for a while on a mission post on a Navajo Nation Indian reservation in New Mexico before moving back to Canada when Bernard Ebbers was a teenager.

Bernard Ebbers began his business career operating a chain of motels in Mississippi.

Bernard Ebbers acquired over 60 telecommunications firms and in 1995, it changed its name to WorldCom.

Additionally, a number of directors believed Bernard Ebbers had not charted a way forward after the Sprint merger collapsed.

In 2003, Bernard Ebbers defaulted on the note and Worldcom foreclosed on many of his assets.

Bernard Ebbers's statement constituted testimony that could not undergo cross-examination and Bernard Ebbers was threatened with Contempt of Congress charges, although no charges were filed.

On March 15,2005, Bernard Ebbers was found guilty of all charges.

Bernard Ebbers was allowed to remain free for another year while his appeal was being considered.

Bernard Ebbers's conviction was upheld in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in July 2006.

Bernard Ebbers reported to Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution in Oakdale, Louisiana, on September 26,2006, driving himself to the prison in his Mercedes-Benz vehicle.

Bernard Ebbers served in the low-security portion of the complex, which typically houses non-violent offenders and is built like a school dormitory.

Bernard Ebbers was granted early release after serving 12 years in December 2019, due to health problems.

Bernard Ebbers agreed to relinquish almost all of his assets, including a home in Mississippi, and his interests in a lumber company, a marina, a golf course, a hotel, and thousands of acres of forested real estate.

In 1968, Bernard Ebbers married Linda Pigott and the couple raised three daughters.

Bernard Ebbers filed for divorce in July 1997 and married his second wife, Kristie Webb, in the spring of 1999.

Bernard Ebbers filed for divorce on April 16,2008, less than two years after he entered prison.

Bernard Ebbers died at his home in Brookhaven, Mississippi, on February 2,2020, at the age of 78, just over a month after being released from prison due to health issues.

Bernard Ebbers's lawyers claimed that he was, by the time of his death, legally blind and suffering from dementia, anemia and significant weight loss.

At his peak in early 1999, Bernard Ebbers was worth an estimated $1.4 billion and listed as 174th on the Forbes 400.

From 1993 through 1995, Bernard Ebbers served as chairman of the board of directors of the Competitive Telecommunications Association, where he pleaded with the United States Congress to improve competition with the incumbent telecommunications companies.

In July 2001, Ebbers was proposed by George W Bush as the chair for the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

Bernard Ebbers's faith was overt, and he often started corporate meetings with prayer.