MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, has reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay a $500m fine for its accountancy fraud. It is the largest fine ever levied by the SEC and will be paid when the company emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The fraud charges resulted from WorldCom's illegal practice of reporting various rental expenses as capital investment, allowing the firm to appear far more profitable than it actually was.
See "WorldCom to pay500m fine", BBC News Online, May 18, 2003