A US judge has approved a €683 million settlement between US regulators and WorldCom.
The judge said a substantially heavier fine for a corporate accounting fraud scandal would "unfairly penalise" the company's 50,000 employees.
Although the fine in the €10 billion case was higher than originally proposed, Judge Jed Rakoff of Manhattan said driving the telecommunications company out of business was not the goal.
Judge Rakoff noted WorldCom, through a court-appointed monitor, had attempted to overhaul its corporate culture and agreed to continued monitoring to prevent similar fraud from recurring.
"The court is satisfied that the steps already taken have gone a very long way toward making the company a good corporate citizen," the judge wrote.
"This is not to say the sins of the past can be forgotten or wholly forgiven," he said. "Those frauds were still colossal and must be punished."
"The proposed settlement is not only fair and reasonable but as good an outcome as anyone could reasonably expect in these difficult circumstances," Judge Rakoff said in a 14-page decision.
WorldCom's problems came to light last year, and the company filed for the biggest bankruptcy in US history in July 2002, citing massive accounting irregularities.
Since then, some shareholders and former employees have called for the so-called "death penalty" against the firm - punishment so severe that it ceases to function.
WorldCom, now operating as MCI while it tries to emerge from bankruptcy court, did not immediately comment.
PA