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NEW YORK (AP) -- In their first day of deliberations, jurors in the trial of former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers asked to review key testimony from a star prosecution witness. The jury, which spent five hours Friday discussing the case, must determine whether Ebbers orchestrated the $11 billion accounting scheme that drove WorldCom into bankruptcy three years ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former WorldCom Inc. finance chief Scott Sullivan began his long-awaited testimony on Monday by implicating ex-CEO Bernard Ebbers in an $11 billion accounting scandal that drove the telecommunications company into the largest U.S. bankruptcy. "I falsified the financial statements of the company," Sullivan admitted under questioning from prosecutor William Johnson, who then asked the government's star witness to name anyone else involved in the crime. Sullivan named five, including Ebbers. He was the first witness during the trial to directly link the one-time chief executive to the accounting fraud he stands accused of orchestrating. Sullivan also...

A long-awaited report on the accounting fraud at WorldCom Inc. -- the largest in U.S. history -- will conclude for the first time that former Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers played a role in the company's effort to improperly boost revenue to meet Wall Street expectations, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. The expansive report, due to be released Monday, is the product of an independent investigation commissioned by the company and led by William McLucas of the law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering. It details how, starting in 1999, the company used accounting...

Rich executives once courted by Bank of America Corp. are proving to be a big headache, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. In the last year, the bank has run into problems with loans made to executives such as Bernard Ebbers, Samuel Waksal and the Rigas family. Now, it appears a loan to another wealthy executive has resulted in a big financial hit. In the second and third quarters, Bank of America's private bank charged off $ 261 million in loans to a family investment firm controlled by Oklahoma telecommunications executive Everett Dobson, essentially declaring the loans uncollectible. Mr. Dobson was...

<p>July 23, 2002 -- Bernie Ebbers could walk away from the WorldCom mess with $500 million in his pockets - if Uncle Sam doesn't throw him in jail and take it all. The flamboyant founder of the long-distance conglomerate managed to cash out hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in bonuses and options in recent years before it tanked from its cooked books scandal.</p>

(July 10, 2002 2:52 p.m. EDT) - The scene has become the cliche of 2002: Solemn, once-respected corporate leaders facing a congressional committee and declining to answer question after question, even such basic queries as name and address, by invoking their right against self-incrimination. It happened again Monday when the former two top officers of WorldCom, Bernard Ebbers and Scott Sullivan, appeared before the House Financial Services Committee. They looked both guilty and silly - and that's the whole point of what is a one-sided and inherently unfair process. The members of Congress could accuse, and did, Ebbers and Sullivan...

WorldCom Inc. released internal memos indicating that former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan planned to bury a $3.8 billion accounting misstatement in a second-quarter charge and told Chief Executive John Sidgmore to expect additional write-downs. The disclosure was made in a revised statement WorldCom provided to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had asked for a more detailed account from the company. Last week, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt blasted WorldCom, the nation's second- largest long-distance phone company, and Mr. Sidgmore for failing to give a full rendering of events that led up to its massive accounting restatement several weeks...

Re: WorldCom, Inc., HO-09440 Revised Statement Pursuant to Section 21(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 1. This revised statement is submitted by WorldCom, Inc. (the "Company") in response to the Commission's June 26, 2002 Order (the "Order") directing the Company to describe in detail the facts and circumstances underlying the events described in and leading to the Company's June 25, 2002 press release (the "Release") regarding its intention to restate its 2001 and first quarter 2002 financial statements. The information provided in this Statement reflects the Company's best understanding as of this date. However, in light of...

Investigators probing the accounting scandal at WorldCom Inc. are turning their attention to the company's recently ousted chief executive, Bernard J. Ebbers, to determine what role he may have played in the alleged fraud that has brought the giant telecom concern to its knees, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. The focus on Mr. Ebbers comes as officials involved with a myriad of probes become increasingly convinced they will find evidence of improper accounting beyond the $3.8 billion that WorldCom disclosed last week will need to be restated. The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought a civil charge of fraud...