US Government Urges Rejection Of Ebbers' Retrial Plea

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

27 May 2005

Federal prosecutors in the United States have urged Judge Barbara Jones to ignore pleas by the legal team of former WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebbers for a retrial in his accounting fraud case.

Earlier this year, Ebbers was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy, and making false filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission during his time at WorldCom, and is facing a possible 85 years in prison when sentencing takes place on June 13.

According to reports, the defense team has argued that a retrial should be granted on the grounds that immunity from prosecution was not given to three witnesses who would have helped Ebbers' case, which meant that they were reluctant to testify.

The former WorldCom chief's lawyers also stated that they should have been allowed to argue to jurors that WorldCom's revenue calculation practices were essentially in compliance with accepted accounting standards.

However, in papers published on Tuesday, the prosecution team told Judge Jones that the arguments "essentially rehash arguments that the court has previously considered and rejected".

"Nothing about the evidence presented during the trial requires a new trial now," they concluded.

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