NewsJanuary 18, 2005
Business digest 01/18/05
CEO faces trial three years after WorldCom collapse; Execs accused of looting Tyco face retrial today
CEO faces trial three years after WorldCom collapse
NEW YORK -- Jury selection gets gets underway this week in the trial of WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, who faces a criminal fraud and conspiracy trial. Federal prosecutors say Ebbers, 63, covered up his company's financial trouble to stay in Wall Street's good graces. In the summer of 2002, WorldCom collapsed under the weight of an $11 billion accounting fraud and filed for the largest bankruptcy in the history of American business. The star witness for the government is expected to be Scott Sullivan, the former chief financial officer of WorldCom, who faced his own trial until pleading guilty in March 2004 and agreeing to testify against his former boss. The defense is expected to argue that Ebbers left the accounting decisions to Sullivan, and that Sullivan was willing to tell the government what it wanted to hear when he made his deal last year.
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Execs accused of looting Tyco face retrial today
NEW YORK -- Two top Tyco International executives accused of looting $600 million of company money to finance lavish lifestyles go on trial for a second time today. The executives' first trial, which lasted six months, was aborted last year due to a menacing letter and telephone call to a juror. Prosecutors plan to present a leaner, shorter case this time around. In the retrial, prosecutors are expected to focus less on items like former Tyco head L. Dennis Kozlowski's $6,000 gold-threaded shower curtain, and more on how he and co-defendant Mark Swartz allegedly looted the company. The defendants each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.
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