ABSTRACT
Betty Vinson and Cynthia Cooper had much in common. Both grew up in Mississippi and studied accounting at state universities. Both eventually moved to Clinton, Mississippi and joined telecommunications giant WorldCom, where they reported to CFO Scott Sullivan. Vinson worked in the general accounting department as the director of management reporting. Cooper was WorldCom’s director of internal audit. Both possessed strong religious faith. Vinson taught her daughter’s Sunday school class. Cooper recited the 23rd Psalm during times of stress. But in 2002, their lives turned in opposite directions. Vinson confessed to
FBI agents on June 24 that she had helped prepare more than $3.7 billion of improper journal entries. She later pled guilty to two criminal counts of conspiracy and securities fraud. Cooper led the internal investigation that discovered Vinson’s bogus entries. Time named Cooper one of the magazine’s 2002 “Persons of the Year” for her role in uncovering the largest accounting fraud (to date) in U.S. history.2
