Company now seeks to emerge from bankruptcy A U.S. district court judge approved a deal Monday under which victims of MCI’s fraud could split $250 million in shares and $500 million in cash in a settlement of a civil action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to an SEC statement.In his ruling for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Jed S. Rakoff noted that the penalty to be paid by MCI, still legally known as WorldCom, would be 75 times greater than any previous such penalty, according to the SEC statement.The $750 million settlement will be paid into a fund for victims of the fraud if the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approves the deal and also accepts a reorganization plan for the company. MCI, based in Ashburn, Virginia, welcomed the court’s approval of the settlement, which leaves the company on track to emerge from bankruptcy protection “later this fall,” it said in a statement Monday.The SEC’s legal proceedings against MCI began in June last year. It filed fraud charges the day after the company said it would restate earnings for five consecutive quarters ending with first quarter of 2002, due to accounting irregularities. MCI later admitted, by stages, to further accounting irregularities totaling more than $9 billion. Technology Industry