Bernard Ebbers, the creator of the telecommunications giant WorldCom, was sentenced to 25 years on Wednesday for his role in the fraud that led to the company’s collapse. The $11billion fraud resulted in the biggest bankruptcy in US history. The Judge in the case rejected the defense’s contention that Mr Ebbers was not a mastermind of the accounting fraud. She said Ebbers was “clearly a leader of criminal activity in this case.” When the company went bankrupt more than 20,000 workers lost their jobs and shareholders lost about $180 billion. Ebbers is the first of six former WorldCom executives and accountants to face sentencing this summer.