WorldCom scandal -- baltimoresun.com

If putting WorldCom Inc.'s head honcho Bernard J. Ebbers in prison for perhaps the rest of his life sends a message to Corporate America to clean up its act, legal experts say the lighter sentence handed down yesterday to his right-hand man, Scott Sullivan, sends another message to wrongdoers: cooperate. More

Judge tentatively OKs sale of ex-WorldCom CFO's home

NEW YORK - A federal judge gave her blessing yesterday to a deal in which former WorldCom finance chief Scott Sullivan will forfeit his ornate $11 million Florida mansion and his retirement account to settle with investors who lost billions when the telecom company was toppled by a fraud scandal. More

WorldCom ex-CEO sentenced for fraud

NEW YORK - From humble roots as a milkman and motel owner, Bernard J. Ebbers built a small telecommunications company into an industry giant - becoming a symbol of what a brash entrepreneur could do in the technology boom of the late 1990s. More

Judge denies motion for new trial by Ebbers

NEW YORK - A federal judge has denied a bid by former WorldCom CEO Bernard L. Ebbers for a new trial, paving the way for him to be sentenced today in the record $11 billion fraud. More

U.S. to seek life term for Ebbers, ex-CEO of WorldCom

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors want former WorldCom boss Bernard J. Ebbers to go to prison for the rest of his life, and have urged a federal judge to brush off his pleas for leniency. More

Ebbers juror says data led to conviction

NEW YORK - WorldCom Inc. documents showing the company's declining finances and the testimony of former chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers that he saw them are what sealed his conviction, not star witness Scott D. Sullivan, a juror said yesterday. More

Ebbers jury can ignore supplemental charges

NEW YORK - A federal judge told jurors in the trial of former WorldCom chief Bernard J. Ebbers yesterday that they did not have to consider supplemental charges by prosecutors to convict him. More

No verdict at Ebbers trial after 2nd day of deliberations

NEW YORK - A federal jury ended its second day deliberating accounting-fraud charges against former WorldCom Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bernard J. Ebbers without reaching a verdict yesterday. More

Ebbers jury likely to start deliberating today

NEW YORK - Money, power and pressure combined to form a "perfect storm of corruption" that led former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers to commit an enormous fraud, a federal prosecutor said in closing arguments at Ebbers' fraud trial yesterday. More

Ebbers denies knowledge of earnings alert

NEW YORK - Former World Com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bernard J. Ebbers denied yesterday that he was told by his finance chief that the company had to issue an earnings alert, then admitted asking a lawyer about the subject days later. More

Ex-WorldCom directors may remain part of suit

NEW YORK - Ten former WorldCom Inc. directors who agreed to pay $18 million of their own money to settle claims from angry investors will remain defendants in the class action lawsuit for now. More

Ebbers pleads innocent in scheme

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers pleaded innocent today to federal charges that he directed an $11 billion accounting fraud, the biggest in U.S. corporate history. More

Sullivan agrees to plea deal

Former WorldCom chief financial officer Scott D. Sullivan pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from the multibillion-dollar accounting scandal at the telecommunications giant and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. More

Court opens WorldCom hearings

NEW YORK - MCI was close to settling today with two groups of creditors that opposed a deal to repay just a fraction of the company's $41 billion debt, prompting a surprise adjournment as hearings began on a plan to emerge from bankruptcy. More

Ex-WorldCom CEO pleads innocent

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Former WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers pleaded innocent today to charges he violated Oklahoma securities laws, the first charges brought against the man who presided over the telephone company's $11 billion accounting scandal. More

WorldCom faces criminal charges

Oklahoma prosecutors today filed the first criminal charges against former WorldCom Inc. chief Bernard Ebbers, part of a wider complaint that also named the bankrupt telecommunications company now known as MCI and other one-time top executives. More

WorldCom names CEO

Former Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. boss Michael D. Capellas was named Friday as chairman and chief executive of troubled WorldCom Inc., the telecommunications giant that that admitted a $9 billion accounting fraud and is mired in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. More

WorldCom allowed to borrow $1.1B

Telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. won approval Tuesday to borrow up to $1.1 billion to continue operations while it sorts out a plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection, and indicated that its financial health had improved significantly. More

Ex-WorldCom accountant pleads guilty

A former WorldCom Inc. executive pleaded guilty Monday to securities fraud and conspiracy, saying he acted on orders from his superiors, and agreed to cooperate in the probe of the largest corporate accounting fraud in U.S. history. More

Laid-off WorldCom workers to get $36M

In a move aimed at shoring up the morale of its remaining workers, bankrupt telecom WorldCom Inc. won court permission Tuesday to hand $36 million in severance payments to laid-off employees. More

WorldCom to reveal more bogus accounting

The WorldCom Inc. accounting scandal could soon reach $9 billion. More

WorldCom accounting fraud rises to $7 billion

NEW YORK - WorldCom Inc., which sought bankruptcy protection last month after disclosing that it had improperly accounted for $3.8 billion in recent expenses, said last night that it had uncovered $3.3 billion in additional accounting irregularities stretching back to 1999. More

WorldCom indictments called likely next week

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors plan to charge former officers of WorldCom Inc. next week for their suspected roles in the extensive financial wrongdoing at the bankrupt telecommunications giant, a law enforcement official said yesterday. More

Can Sidgmore handle it?

Some question whether WorldCom Inc.'s bankruptcy reorganization should be led by a member of the management team that created such a colossal mess, but John W. Sidgmore will remain in charge for now. More

Going for broke

A look at some of the world's largest corporate bankruptcies: More

WorldCom files for bankruptcy protection

WorldCom Inc., the nation's second-largest long-distance company, crumpled into bankruptcy late Sunday, brought down by massive debt, a shortage of cash and an accounting scandal that rocked investor confidence. More

Filing won't leave consumers in lurch

For years, the biggest challenge WorldCom Inc. and MCI faced was persuading consumers to switch long-distance companies. More

More firms on brink?

WorldCom Inc.'s mammoth bankruptcy filing Sunday could prolong the telecommunications industry's long and painful implosion by dragging teetering companies over the brink with it. More

Ebbers knew, WorldCom lawyers say

WASHINGTON - World-Com's chief executive at the time was aware that hundreds of millions of dollars were shifted as part of nearly $4 billion in accounting irregularities, company attorneys have told a House investigative panel. More

Senate adds penalties to fraud bill

WASHINGTON - A unified Senate approved harsh new penalties yesterday for corporate fraud and document shredding, adding enforcement teeth to President Bush's plan to curb a growing wave of accounting scandals. More

Bush urges tougher laws to fight fraud

NEW YORK -- President Bush, launching a new effort to combat corporate corruption, Tuesday demanded longer prison sentences for business executives who commit fraud and announced the creation of a federal task force to help pursue and prosecute such criminals. More

Analysis

Reaction to Bush's calls for stiffer laws mixed

President Bush's corporate reform initiatives will do little to restore confidence in America's battered business culture, whether by shoring up investor trust or discouraging genuinely fraudulent behavior in the executive suite, according to business experts and government regulators. More

Text of Bush's Wall Street speech

A text of President Bush's speech today on corporate scandals, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.: More

House panel summons WorldCom CEO

Scrambling to respond to the mammoth accounting scandal unfolding at WorldCom Inc., a congressional committee demanded to hear testimony from top current and former executives of the telecommunications giant, as well as a stock analyst who had long served as the company's most vocal booster. More

Company used basic fraud tactics, experts say

What did Arthur Andersen know, and how could it have approved financial statements full of corporate chicanery? More

Analysis: Congress now likely to be forced to act

Until WorldCom Inc.'s admission that it improperly accounted for $3.9 billion in expenses, the revelations of business misdeeds beginning with Enron's collapse in early December looked as if they would produce little more than some arcane accounting changes and a few prosecutions. More

Unlikely pair at center of tempest

Bernard J. Ebbers was an unlikely pioneer in the cutting-edge world of telecommunications. Though he transformed WorldCom Inc. from an idea on a coffee-shop napkin into the second-largest long-distance company in the country, Ebbers himself is known to shun cell phones, pagers and even e-mail. More

Another big loser: campaign coffers

As telecommunications giant WorldCom Inc. tumbles toward almost certain bankruptcy, the campaign finance industry that fuels politics on Capitol Hill is in danger of losing yet another multimillion-dollar player. More

WorldCom may survive after all

Despite mounting fiscal and legal woes, WorldCom Inc. could emerge from its current crisis as a leaner and stronger telecommunications company. More

WorldCom heads toward bankruptcy amid outrage

WorldCom Inc. teetered yesterday toward what would be the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history after shocking Wall Street -- and the White House -- with yet another corporate scandal: $3.8 billion in expenses hidden from investors. More

O'Neill wants jail; Subpoenas issued

President Bush said Thursday he was concerned about the potential economic impact from the WorldCom Inc. accounting scandal as his Treasury secretary suggested jail terms for corporate executives who falsely certify company finances. More

WorldCom fraud was brazen, easy to spot, experts say

The accounting scandal enveloping WorldCom Inc. grew out of a scheme so simple and brazen that top executives for the telecom giant should have known it would eventually collapse of its own weight, experts in corporate finance said yesterday. More

SEC charges WorldCom with fraud

NEW YORK -- The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that his agency has filed fraud charges against WorldCom Inc., a day after the company disclosed it had grossly overstated its profits in one of the largest accounting scandals ever. More

A WorldCom primer

While employees and investors felt the most immediate impact of corporate scandals at Enron Corp. and Tyco International Ltd., the debacle at WorldCom Inc. involves a company that deals directly with millions of Americans every day. More

Andersen was WorldCom auditor

WorldCom Inc., the nation's No. 2 long-distance phone company, stunned already reeling investors late Tuesday by disclosing what may be the largest case of accounting deception in U.S. history -- a $3.8 billion sleight of hand designed to boost profits. More

Bush says U.S. to investigate WorldCom

President Bush on Wednesday called reports that WorldCom Inc. disguised $3.9 billion in expenses "outrageous" and said the government "will fully investigate and hold people accountable." More

WorldCom rises 16% over ending of stock

WorldCom Inc. shares rose more than 16 percent yesterday after the telecommunications company's announcement that it is eliminating its MCI tracking stock. More

WorldCom consolidates ex-CEO's debt

WorldCom Inc. said in a regulatory filing yesterday that it had consolidated all loans to its former president and chief executive officer, Bernard Ebbers, into a single $408.2 million promissory note. More

3,700 jobs being cut at WorldCom Group

WorldCom Inc. is eliminating 3,700 jobs in the United States to better align costs with projected revenue this year. More

WorldCom sees less profit for 'Net unit

Voice and data services company WorldCom Inc. cut the 2001 profit outlook yesterday for its main Internet unit because of a change in accounting of its stake in Brazilian carrier Embratel, and the recent purchase of Intermedia Communications Inc. More

WorldCom reportedly will lay off up to 11,000

WorldCom Inc. plans to eliminate as many as 11,000 jobs to reduce its staff are part of a larger effort to refocus the company, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, quoting people familiar with the situation. More

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