Ebbers has always come across as a pretty good guy, and has always been a very shrewd businessman. I think it probably came naturally to him to try and keep the company looking good even when it wasn't particularly doing well financially. To that end, I don't find it hard at all to believe that he instructed his financial officers to make things look as good as possible.

Scott Sulliven, the former CFO who became the key witness in Ebbers's trial in exchange for sentencing leniency, was certainly more instrumental in the actual figure manipulation that took place.

In most corporations (and almost certainly this one), the CEO is fairly adept at reading and interpreting financial statements by necessity, but is seldom privy to the processes by which those statements are prepared. I seriously doubt Ebbers could have given particular instructions to Sullivan (or anyone else, for that matter) on how to go about making the numbers look good.

Add this to the fact that Sullivan enjoyed a life of opulence that included a 16,000 square foot mansion in Boca Raton, Florida (complete with a fur vault, eight master bedrooms with jacuzzis in each, and an 18-seat movie theatre), and the fact that although initially facing a maximum of 65 years, Sullivan likely will receive a 10-year (or shorter) sentence.

So in my opinion the feds put a figurehead away for 25 years while the sentence for the person who actually committed the wrongdoing will be essentially a slap-on-the-wrist.

Image really may be everything, after all.