Posted on 09/03/2003 10:47:19 AM PDT by BeerSwillr
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Former WorldCom Inc. (WCOEQ, news) chief executive Bernie Ebbers was booked Wednesday on criminal charges of violating Oklahoma securities laws in a massive accounting fraud.
Mr. Ebbers, whose company collapsed last year in the nation's largest bankruptcy, was fingerprinted and booking photographs were taken of him, said Oklahoma County sheriff's Sgt. Rochelle Thompson. Following booking, Mr. Ebbers was released pending a 1:30 p.m. CDT court appearance before Oklahoma County Judge Russell Hall.
Mr. Ebbers and five other former officials with the telecommunications giant, now known as MCI Inc. (MCWEQ, news), are accused of 15 felony counts. Each count carries up to a $10,000 fine and a 10-year prison sentence. The company was also charged in the complaint. These were the first charges against Mr. Ebbers or the company in an $11 billion accounting fraud.
The charges were brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, who said false information on company documents, showing overstated earnings and understated expenses, led to Oklahoma investors losing millions, including a $64 million hit taken by state pension funds on investments in the company.
Although the state case is the first criminal charges against Mr. Ebbers and the company itself, former WorldCom executives such as ex-chief financial officer Scott Sullivan have been charged in federal court. Mr. Sullivan was named in the Oklahoma complaint.
Four other ex-executives who have pleaded guilty to federal charges and are helping federal prosecutors are also charged in Oklahoma: David Myers, Buford Yates Jr., Betty Vinson and Troy Normand.
My sentiments exactly. We may hear a rumbling about it from time to time, but it's not going anywhere.
Perhaps those that remain at MCI. But it's clear that Ebbers and others who have since 'left' MCI behaved criminally.
If you want to prosecute the case. You should only prosecute those who commited the wrongdoing, not the whole company.
MCI, believe it or not does have customers and employees in the state and going after it simply becuase of the malfeasence of Ebbers and his cabal will I'm afraid do more hram than good.
I say let MCI off the hook and simply prosecute Ebbers and those involved in his wrongdoing.
Regards.
Certainly there is a political dimension here.
a.. Enron's chairman did meet with the president and the vice president in the Oval Office.
b.. Enron gave $420,000 to the president's party over three years.
c.. It donated $100,000 to the president's inauguration festivities.
d.. The Enron chairman stayed at the White House 11 times.
e.. The corporation had access to the administration at its highest levels and even enlisted the Commerce and State Departments to grease deals for it
f.. The taxpayer-supported Export-Import Bank subsidized Enron for more than $600 million in just one transaction.
SCANDALOUS
g.. BUT...the president under whom all this happened WASN'T George W. Bush.
h.. SURPRISE It was Bill Clinton!
Please pass this on so the whole Country will Know. CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, PBN and the Liberal Media Won't! ! !
Seperated at birth???
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