PBS Frontline: The Wall Street Fix (2003)

Originally aired May 2003. "As WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers--found guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy, and filing false documents with regulators--faces sentencing for his crimes, FRONTLINE traces WorldCom's stunning rise and fall in this investigation of what New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer calls Wall Street's "corrupt business model," which costs American investors trillions. Examining the high profile example of WorldCom, the hottest stock--and then the biggest bankruptcy of the 1990's, correspondent Hedrick Smith uncovers the hidden ties that enabled superbanks and Wall Street insiders to shape and profit from the telecom boom while leaving ordinary investors holding worthless stock when the bubble burst."