man this is ugly... one would think we are talking about a dinky little sh*thouse company from nowhere USA. I guess Bernie wanted that 400M loan really really bad huh?
siliconinvestor.com
Ebbers Said to Know of WorldCom Woes
By MARCY GORDON 07/12/2002 01:27:51 EST
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers knew that hundreds of millions of dollars were shifted as part of nearly $4 billion in accounting irregularities, a House investigative panel was told.
The allegation came recently from WorldCom attorneys speaking to investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, committee spokesman Ken Johnson said Thursday.
Ebbers' attorney insisted that his client was unaware of the transactions in question.
Ebbers, the telecommunications company's founder and former president and chief executive, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination at a congressional hearing Monday and refused to answer questions, citing current investigations by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC has filed civil fraud charges against WorldCom, one of the latest major corporations to face allegations of executive wrongdoing and accounting dodges - driving down public confidence in business and the stock market.
Johnson said House Energy and Commerce investigators were told that "Bernie (Ebbers) was aware that hundreds of millions of dollars had been moved." The lawyers said information came to them from Scott Sullivan, WorldCom's former chief financial officer, who also refused to testify on Monday.
"This is the first evidence that we've seen that the muddy little footprints may lead back to Bernie Ebbers' doorstep," Johnson said. "Clearly there's evidence that some people at WorldCom knew someone was cooking the books."
Ebbers, in an interview with attorneys conducting an internal investigation for WorldCom, denied Sullivan's assertion that he was aware of the transactions, Johnson noted.
Ebbers' Washington lawyer, Reid Weingarten, said Thursday: "Bernie Ebbers did not know about the accounting decisions of Scott Sullivan to reassign billions of dollars."
Weingarten said that on the contrary, people at the company had assured him that Sullivan had said Ebbers had no knowledge of the transfers.
WorldCom's current CEO, John Sidgmore, has said he did not know whether Ebbers, who received $400 million in loans from the company, had that knowledge.
When he invoked his constitutional privilege at the hearing by the House Financial Services Committee, Ebbers said, "I do not believe I have anything to hide."
When all the facts are out, he said, "I believe that no one will conclude that I engaged in any criminal or fraudulent conduct."
Led by Reps. Billy Tauzin, R-La., and Jim Greenwood, R-Pa., the Energy and Commerce Committee has been investigating WorldCom's massive misstatement since the company disclosed last month that it disguised $3.9 billion of expenses as capital expenditures to appear more profitable.
Johnson said the committee received five boxes of documents from WorldCom on Thursday, the deadline set by the panel in its request for records - including those related to a WorldCom internal audit and minutes of the company's board and audit committee. |
