A US judge has approved a $750m (€662m) settlement between US regulators and WorldCom, saying a substantially heavier fine for a corporate accounting fraud scandal would “unfairly penalise” the company’s 50,000 employees.

A United States judge today approved a $750m (€662m) settlement between US regulators and WorldCom, saying a substantially heavier fine for a corporate accounting fraud scandal would “unfairly penalise” the company’s 50,000 employees.

WorldCom Inc has agreed to pay investors a record $500m (€428.5m) to settle civil fraud charges over its $11bn (€9.42bn)-dollar accounting scandal, which was the biggest in US corporate history.

WORLDCOM has agreed to pay about $500 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the telephone company overstated profits