Worldcom chief facing jail

Published on Wednesday 16 March 2005 02:53

FORMER Worldcom chief Bernie Ebbers was yesterday found guilty of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the collapse of the telecoms company.

The 63-year old, who is to appeal against the verdict, was also found guilty of seven counts of filing false documents. He could face up to 85 years in prison when he is sentenced on 13 June.

Shareholders lost about US$180 billion (94bn) in Worldcom's 2002 collapse - the largest bankruptcy in US history - and 20,000 workers lost their jobs. Worldcom, now known as MCI, emerged from bankruptcy last year.

A federal jury in Manhattan had spent eight days deliberating before returning their verdicts. The six-week trial took place two years after an internal audit was launched into Worldcom's accounts. Ebbers told the court he knew too little about the phone firm's accounts to be aware of the fraud and blamed his former finance chief, Scott Sullivan. But prosecutors accused him of engineering the fraud that saw senior Worldcom executives exaggerate revenues and expenses between 2000 and 2002.

They portrayed Ebbers as "obsessed" with keeping the company's share price high at a time when the telecoms sector was under pressure in the wake of the dotcom crash. Five other Worldcom executives, including Sullivan, have admitted their guilt and are also awaiting sentence.

Ebbers’s lawyer Reid Weingarten said that the evidence was "riddled with reasonable doubt" and confirmed there would be an appeal.