CORPORATISM - LOOKING GLASS NEWS | |
WorldCom's Ebbers Convicted |
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by Brooke A. Masters Washington Post Entered into the database on Tuesday, March 15th, 2005 @ 23:38:28 MST |
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Ebbers sat impassively with his fingers laced as the jury forewoman delivered
a guilty verdict on all nine counts. He stared intently at each juror as the
judge polled them individually. The jury of seven women and five men held Ebbers, 63, responsible for filings
that boosted WorldCom's reported earnings and hid the fact that its business
was deteriorating for nearly two years. WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection
in July 2002, later announcing it had uncovered $11 billion in fraudulent accounting
entries. The firm's collapse, combined with the implosion of Enron Corp., sounded the
death knell for the 1990s stock market boom and prompted Congress to enact strict
new laws holding corporate chieftains more accountable for their companies'
financial reporting. "It's a very sad day for Bernie Ebbers, but it's a very good day for Wall
Street and investors," said St. John's University law professor Anthony
M. Sabino. "If you're the chief executive, you're the captain of the ship.
You can't get in front of a jury and say, 'I'm not responsible.' " That could be a chilling thought for former chief executives whose trials are
underway or pending, including HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard M. Scrushy
and former Enron executives Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, who are
all using similar defenses. Ebbers, a former milkman and high school coach who built WorldCom from a tiny
Mississippi long-distance reseller into a national powerhouse, is the fifth
and highest-ranking WorldCom executive to be convicted in the fraud. He faces
a maximum of 85 years in prison and could spend much of the rest of his life
behind bars. It was a remarkable comedown for a former billionaire once hailed
as the "telecom cowboy" for helping lead the telecommunications revolution. His wife, Kristie, cried quietly throughout the reading of the verdict, and,
after it was finished, Ebbers walked over and put his arms around her and their
daughter. Then he and his family left the Manhattan courthouse together, pushing
through a scrum of reporters who peppered him with questions. Silent and still
impassive, he and his family climbed into a taxi. The conviction came after five weeks of testimony and more than 40 hours of
deliberation over eight days. During that time the jury sent out more than two
dozen notes and requested transcripts of the testimony of virtually every witness.
"We are all devastated. We profoundly believe in our client. We believe
this case is riddled with reasonable doubt," said Reid H. Weingarten, Ebbers's
lead attorney. Weingarten promised to appeal. Prosecutors left the courtroom without commenting. Later, Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales issued a statement saying, "Today's verdict is a triumph
of our legal system and the application of our nation's laws against those who
breach them. We are satisfied the jury saw what we did in this case: that fraud
at WorldCom extended from the middle-management levels of this company, all
the way to its top executive." Juror Vincent Wright, 52, a Manhattan bus driver, said he personally concluded
"three things" about Ebbers after hearing the case against him: "He
was either incredibly stupid, incredibly naive or incredibly smart, and he's
not stupid. Naive, maybe. The company was having problems, and he just didn't
want to see it go down. It was his baby." The government had contended that Ebbers orchestrated a scheme to boost WorldCom's
share price because he was trying to protect his personal fortune -- once valued
at $1 billion -- from banks that were calling in his loans as the company's
stock fell. Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Johnson referred to the fraud
as a "perfect storm of corruption" combining money, power and personal
pressure on Ebbers. Ebbers's former lieutenant, Scott D. Sullivan, WorldCom's ousted finance chief,
testified that he personally had informed Ebbers that he was taking improper
"shortcuts to earnings" and making "adjustments that weren't
right" to the way the company booked revenue and operating expenses known
as line costs. In these private conversations, Sullivan said, Ebbers ordered
him to commit the fraud by insisting that the company had to "hit the numbers"
Wall Street was expecting for revenue and earnings. Three lower-level WorldCom executives, who like Sullivan have pleaded guilty
to fraud, explained how they had secretly reclassified more than $2 billion
in line costs -- fees paid to other carriers for use of their networks -- as
capital expenditures. A voice mail from Sullivan to Ebbers and a memo written
by Ebbers both strongly suggested that he was aware the company was including
"accounting fluff" and "one time events" in its revenue
numbers. Other employees of WorldCom and its successor, MCI Inc. of Ashburn,
testified that Ebbers had an eagle eye for cutting costs -- down to small items
such as bottled water and the company's coffee service -- and closely studied
WorldCom budget documents. But Ebbers took the stand and denied that Sullivan had ever told him that anything
illegal was going on. Weingarten, Ebbers's attorney, contended that Sullivan
had masterminded the line cost scheme and was falsely accusing Ebbers to cut
his own prison time. Prosecutors introduced no documents that directly linked
Ebbers to the line cost fraud and only one conversation with anyone other than
Sullivan. Ebbers also contended that he trusted Sullivan to make sure that the
company reported its revenue and expense accounting properly. "This man has committed no crimes," Weingarten argued to the jury. Juror Wright said the panel agreed within the first few days that Ebbers had
committed securities fraud, and he said it was "easy" to convict Ebbers
of the seven false-filing charges. But the group split eight to four on the
conspiracy charge, with Wright and three others arguing for acquittal. The problem, Wright said, was that "most jurors did not believe Scott
Sullivan" and without his testimony there was little direct evidence that
Ebbers had conspired with other WorldCom officials to carry out the fraud. On
Monday, the jurors constructed a timeline that ultimately convinced Wright and
the other holdouts that Ebbers and the other WorldCom officials were working
toward the same fraudulent goal, Wright said. The other jurors sent word through U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones that
they did not want to comment. The panel members came mostly from blue-collar
walks of life in Manhattan, the Bronx and the northern suburbs of New York City,
a long way from Edmonton, Canada, where Ebbers was born and attended high school,
and Mississippi, where he built WorldCom into a force to be reckoned with. Jones thanked the jurors and set sentencing for June 13. How much time Ebbers may serve is somewhat unclear because the U.S. Supreme
Court recently declared federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional but said
judges could use them as a guide. If the guidelines were in force, Ebbers would
probably receive at least 25 years, with a possible increase if Jones decides
he lied on the stand. But she could also give him reductions for his personal
situation -- he has a heart condition and has made more than $100 million in
charitable gifts -- or opt not to use the guidelines at all. Staff writer Ben White and staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this
report. © 2005 The Washington Post Company |