MADISON (AP) — The wife of convicted WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers has filed for divorce less than two years after he reported to a federal prison for securities fraud and conspiracy in an $11 billion accounting fraud.

Madison County Chancery Court records show Kristie Ebbers filed for divorce last week. The couple has been married since 1999. His first marriage ended in divorce.

Bernie Ebbers, 66, is in the Oakdale Federal Correctional Institution in central Louisiana, which houses low-security male inmates.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons Web site says his projected release date is July 4, 2028.

Ebbers is a former high school basketball coach who took a small telecommunications company and transformed it into an industry giant before the Clinton-based WorldCom collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002.

He was sentenced to 25 years after being convicted in 2005 of securities fraud and conspiracy. His trial took place in federal court in New York.

Federal prisoners have to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

Ebbers drove himself to prison in a Mercedes on Sept. 26, 2006.

Madison County land records show Kristie Ebbers still owns the couple’s brick-and-stucco home in an upscale gated community in the Jackson suburb of Ridgeland.



AP-CS-04-22-08 1838EDT