Bernard Ebbers, WorldCom's founder, built it into the world's largest telephone company, then drove it into the ground with his illegal dealings. He overstated WorldCom's cash flow by improperly booking $11 billion in company revenues. Shareholders first became aware of the problem when WorldCom announced it needed to restate its financial reports in March 2002.

As part of his shenanigans, Ebbers got $400 million in off-the-books loans from the company. Criminal fraud charges were filed against Ebbers and former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan. Sullivan pleaded guilty to three criminal charges related to the fraud and cooperated with prosecutors in their case against Ebbers. Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He is serving his time in the Oakdale, Louisiana, Federal Corrections institute.

Investor groups filed a class-action case against WorldCom's former directors, former executives, 18 banks, and its auditor, the infamous Arthur Anderson. A settlement was reached with some of these plaintiffs. Some former WorldCom directors paid a total of $50 million toward the settlement. Citigroup, which had promoted WorldCom's stocks and bonds as good investments even though it had concerns about WorldCom's rocky financial position, paid $2.65 billion.

This post is part of a feature in which he wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.

Boris Abramovich Berezovsky, Russia's first billionaire, now lives in exile in London. "I am really thinking of returning to Russia after Putin collapses," Berezovsky told the BBC earlier this year.

Former mathematician turned media tycoon, Berezovsky was one of the first Russian oligarchs, as well as a member President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, or "family," in the 1990s. He even served as deputy secretary of Russia's security council and was also a member of the State Duma. He helped introduce Vladimir Putin to the "family," only to have Putin turn around and try to curb the political ambitions of Russia's oligarchs, including wresting control of the country's main television channel, ORT, from Berezovsky. After Putin became the Russian president, Berezovsky fled to the United Kingdom to escape charges of defrauding the government, where he was granted political asylum. In 2007, a Moscow court convicted Berezovsky of embezzlement in absentia and sentenced him to six years in jail.

The U.K. has denied all attempts to extradite Berezovsky, who continues to be a vocal critic of Putin and his administration. He has publicly stated his mission to bring down Putin, and has antagonized his opponent by traveling to Georgia in 2003 and Latvia in 2005, as well as investing in and public ally supporting a business run by Neil Bush, the younger brother of U.S. President George W. Bush.

This post is part of a feature in which he wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.

In 2005, Dennis Kozlowski was convicted of misappropriating more than $400 million in company funds from Tyco International (NYSE: TYC). He had been Tyco's CEO from 1992 to 2002, during which he oversaw a massive expansion of the company through a series of strategic mergers and acquisitions. But he left the company amid controversy about his extravagant compensation package.

Though found guilty of grand larceny, Kozlowski continues to deny that he committed any crime. He feels that he was unfairly punished for his "embarrassingly big" pay package, as he once put it, as well as his extravagant lifestyle. That lifestyle included such things as $6,000 shower curtains and $15,000 umbrella stands, as well as a $2 million birthday party complete with togas, Jimmy Buffett, a cake with exploding breasts, and a stature of David that peed vodka. Oh, and the party was also "shareholder meeting" so Tyco could help foot the bill. (The home where this party occurred is now for sale for a mere $16.5 million, if you're interested.)

This post is part of a feature in which we wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.

Ah, for the simple days of the 1980s. Way back then, the crimes of greedy traders were obvious and unambiguous, and the crooks had the decency to look the part. Few played the role of the greedy financier as well as Ivan Boesky, who went all the way from immigrant's son to millionaire investor to disgraced jailbird. I only wish our current financial crooks played their parts as well.

Ivan Frederick Boesky rose to fame and fortune taking huge positions in companies that were soon to be taken over. He was quite successful during the merger mania that drove the 1980s boom market, and by 1986 he was worth over $200 million, which was real money back before hedge funds took over the world. The only problem was that he was trading on inside information, which while enormously profitable has the distinct disadvantage of being completely illegal.

Boesky was not subtle in his approach, often buying tens of thousands of shares in a company at a premium just days before the company announced a takeover. The share price would jump and Boesky would quickly cash out. The typically somnambulant SEC eventually took notice, and Boesky was caught red-handed in 1986 and charged with stock manipulation and insider trading. He paid a fine of $100 million and spent nearly two years in the (minimum security) slammer. He also sang like a bird to the SEC, providing enough information about crooked dealings on Wall Street to almost single-handedly bring the 1980s boom to an end.