COLUMBUS, Ohio AP – A former executive at a health care finance company was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for his role in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case that federal prosecutors compared to the Enron or WorldCom scandals.

The prison term for Donald Ayers, a former chief operating officer with National Century Financial Enterprises, was appropriate given the nature and extent of the fraud, U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley said.