Ebbers Involved In WorldCom Fraud, Court Rules

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

17 March 2005

It emerged on Tuesday that former WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebbers has been found guilty of playing a key role in the massive accounting fraud which took place at the telecoms firm.

Giving testimony late last month, Ebbers denied that he had been aware of the accounting fraud being perpetrated at the telecoms firm, contradicting the testimony of WorldCom's former finance boss, Scott Sullivan.

Earlier in the trial, Sullivan claimed that he had been put under pressure by the former CEO to cook the books, with the latter arguing "We have to hit our numbers".

However, in his testimony, Ebbers announced that: "I wasn't advised by Scott Sullivan of anything ever being wrong. He's never told me he made an entry that wasn't right. If he had, we wouldn't be here today."

The former chief executive additionally denied that he had apologized to WorldCom's former controller, David Myers, for what the company's accountants had been obliged to do to cover up the firm's true financial situation, and stated that:

"I know what I don't know. I don't, to this day, know technology. I don't know finance and accounting."

Having been found guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission during his time at WorldCom (now MCI), Ebbers is now facing a possible 85 years in prison.

However, his legal team have pledged to appeal, announcing on Tuesday that:

"We profoundly disagree with the verdict. We will continue to believe there isn't a chance he participated in efforts to cook books at WorldCom."

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