WorldCom's whistle-blower tells her story

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2008 | by Greg Farrell

Cynthia Cooper is not a politician and has never run for public office. And yet without her efforts, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act -- the most sweeping investor-protection legislation passed by Congress since the Great Depression -- might never have been enacted.

Six years ago, following the collapse of Enron, angry lawmakers held hearings, threatened auditors and warned CEOs that sleight-of-hand accounting tricks would not be tolerated. The Justice Department even indicted one auditing firm, Arthur Andersen, essentially putting it out of business.

But by June of 2002, the sound and fury surrounding Enron's collapse had subsided. Congress planned to pass some form of legislation, but the passions that swayed lawmakers in the winter of 2002 had eased. Business as...