Trial of former WorldCom CEO begins

NEW YORK - Former WorldCom Inc. chief Bernard Ebbers orchestrated an $11 billion accounting fraud and then told "lie after lie after lie" about the telecommunications giant's crumbling finances to protect its stock price and his own personal fortune, a prosecutor said Tuesday in opening statements at Ebbers' trial.

Ebbers began the lies in October 2000, painting a false picture for investors and ignoring that WorldCom had not met Wall Street expectations, federal prosecutor David Anders told jurors.

"When people buy stock in a company, they purchase the right to be told the truth," Anders said. "Bernard Ebbers violated that trust. He violated that trust by directing this fraud, and then telling lie after lie after lie about how his company, WorldCom, was performing."

By late 2000, WorldCom's revenues were suffering and its expenses were far higher than expected, Anders said.

But he said Ebbers was obsessed with matching Wall Street's expectations for profits. So, Anders said, Ebbers repeatedly told chief financial officer Scott Sullivan: "We have to hit the number."

"It was a command to commit fraud," the prosecutor said.

Ebbers listened intently to the argument, occasionally crossing one leg over another and holding one hand to his chin.

Ten women and six men were selected Tuesday as jurors and alternates to hear the accounting-fraud trial before U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones.

The pool of 16 people includes two grade-school teachers, three bank employees, three current or former New York City Transit employees, and a homemaker, among others.

Ebbers, 63, is accused of orchestrating an accounting fraud at WorldCom, which collapsed in 2002 in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

The charges against Ebbers - fraud, conspiracy and making false regulatory filings - carry up to 85 years in prison.

Prosecutors are expected to call a securities expert and perhaps a WorldCom investor who lost money among their first witnesses.

The star prosecution witness is expected to be Scott Sullivan, WorldCom's former finance chief, who pleaded guilty to fraud last year and agreed to testify against his ex-boss.

Sullivan is among five former WorldCom executives who have pleaded guilty in the case.

WorldCom has since emerged from bankruptcy and now operates as MCI Inc., based in Ashburn, Va. Ebbers had built WorldCom in Mississippi, developing a small long-distance company into a global telecommunications giant.