Gearing up for Ebbers’ sentencing

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, after losing his bid for a new trial on Tuesday, is due to be sentenced on Wednesday by US District Court Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan.  Valuably, the run-up to the Ebbers’ sentencing has produced some interesting press coverage of sentencing issues.

As previously detailed in this post, CNN has this interesting article discussing the evolution of federal sentencing outcomes in high-profile white-collar cases.  And now I see this interesting article from USA Today, which discusses examples of high-profile defendants arguing, often unsuccessfully, that their charitable activities should justify a reduced sentence.

The posts linked below provide some more background on the Ebbers’ sentencing proceeding and on post-Booker white-collar sentencing more broadly:

• Ebbers’ plea for leniency
• Big white collar developments
• A pattern of white-collar leniency?
• Are the federal guidelines too tough on white-collar offenders?

Since predictions are so much fun, I will note that Peter Henning at the White Collar Crime Prof Blog has predicted in this post that Ebbers’ sentence “will be in the 8-10 year range.”  That seems a hint low: I am expecting a sentence closer to the neighborhood of 12 years.  Other predictions?