The founder of WorldCom, Bernard J. Ebbers, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for his participation in accounting fraud which misstated the company’s profits by $11 billion and caused the collapse of the telecommunications giant in 2002.

Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of life in prison. The sentence is one of the stiffest ever given to an executive charged with large-scale corporate corruption. In handing down the sentence, Federal judge Barbara S. Jones said that Mr. Ebbers deserved the sentence because his statements “deprived investors of their money” and that he was a leader of the criminal activity that led to his company’s downfall.

Legal analysts said that the long sentence given to Mr. Ebbers would encourage settlements in similar cases as well as serve as a deterrent to others thinking of engaging in such misconduct.

Mr. Ebbers remains free on bail for the time being, but he must report to a probation officer within 72 hours and he was ordered to report to prison on October 12. His attorney said that he would appeal Mr. Ebbers’s sentence and asked that his client be allowed to remain free on bail through the appeals process, but it was unclear whether the judge will allow that.