Ex-WorldCom bosses charged
| • | Arrests on camera mostly a show of government force |
Bloomberg News Service
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| Scott Sullivan, center, former chief financial officer of WorldCom, is taken from the federal building in New York after he surrendered to face criminal charges in the scandal that triggered the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history.
Bloomberg News Service |
Sullivan, 40, former chief financial officer, and ex-controller Myers, 44, surrendered and were paraded in handcuffs past television cameras and photographers at the FBI building in Manhattan yesterday en route to a court appearance a block away. Defense lawyers said the Bush administration is grandstanding.
The Justice Department brought charges five weeks after the disclosure of $3.9 billion of hidden expenses at WorldCom, parent of MCI phone service and carrier of about half the traffic on the Internet. The Bush administration wants to demonstrate an increased commitment to fighting corporate fraud after a series of scandals that began with the collapse last year of Enron Corp.
"Corrupt corporate executives are no better than common thieves whenever they betray their employees and steal from investors," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in Washington.
U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Francis freed Sullivan on a $10 million bond and Myers on a $2 million bond. Their lawyers said they will plead innocent. If convicted, they face as much as 10 years in prison on the most serious charge of securities fraud.
