In this matchup in the plan of reorganization regional Worldcom decimator Bernie Ebbers takes on the Unusual Girl Cyndi Lauper.

Born to the family of a traveling salesman, Bernard Ebbers was the second of five children. Ebbers turned WorldCom into the nation’s second largest long distance telecom company. However, in 2002, the company admitted to improperly reporting $3.8 billion in expenses at the time the largest accounting scandal in history.
After WorldCom filed for bankruptcy its stock price tumbled from $64 per share to a little over $1. Ebbers was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy and seven counts of filing false reports with regulators and is now serving a 25-year federal prison sentence.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun pop muse Cyndi Lauper struggled in the beginning of her career, when she was in failed band Blue Angel. After a falling out, she and her bandmates were sued by their manager for $80,000 forcing her to file for bankruptcy in 1981. The pop star’s solo career took off with the 1983 release of her album ‘She’s So Unusual,’ featuring hit singles ‘Time After Time,’ and the appropriately titled, ‘Money Changes Everything.’

On the fame side, the accounting fraud of Bernie Ebbers just could not compete with the reknown of international recording and Broadway star Cyndi Lauper, and the pop star dominated in this category.
On the other hand, Lauper’s use of bankruptcy to discharge only Two Hundred Five Thousand Dollars early in her career was dwarfed by the over forty five billion dollars creditors lost after Worldcom tanked. In fact, Bernie Ebbers had the highest amount of debt in all of Bankruptcy Brackets, even more than the twelve billion of debt stolen by Bernie Madoff.
Once again, the seesaw battle will have to be resolved by the Panel, who frankly found both of these stories underwhelming. Kathryn Boling had problems staying awake after hearing about Ebbers’ accounting fraud, and David Grossbach thought that Cyndi Lauper’s story of bankruptcy was small change. Even so, the panel found the singer’s story just interesting enough for her to squeak by Bernie Ebbers and move onto the second round.