1. Insurance Agent Sam Owens and a group of investors sought to take advantage of the dip in Worldcom stock and invested approximately $100,000 in shares of the company. That gamble, however, didn't pay off. Sam has some choice words for Bernie Ebbers. Is Sam justified in his anger toward Bernie Ebbers? What is your assessment of investors like Sam who sought to make money on the reduction in the stock price?

2. At trial, Bernie Ebbers' attorney sought to use what some have described as the "Aw Shucks" defense. Scott Sullivan, the company's CFO, testified against his former CEO. With the company having received clean audits for the years in question, what do you think of the defense that Bernie, a non-accountant, relied on his accounting department, run by Scott Sullivan, to keep things in line and in accordance with GAAP? Bernie Ebbers received the maximum sentence of 25 years but was released in December of 2019 for health reasons and died this past February. What blame do you assess to Sullivan, who plead guilty and served approximately 4 years in jail?