The first discovery of possible illegal activity was by WorldCom's own internal audit department who uncovered approximately $3.8 billion of the fraud in June 2002. The company's audit committee and board of directors were notified of the fraud and acted swiftly: Sullivan was fired, Myers resigned, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation. By the end of 2003, it was estimated that the company's total assets had been inflated by around $11 billion (WorldCom, 2005).