Ebbers Testifies He Knew Little About How WorldCom Worked

[Rose Siding]

Bernard J. Ebbers, the former WorldCom chief executive once hailed as one of the most brilliant telecommunications entrepreneurs of all time, said today before a packed courtroom in Manhattan that he knew little about the technology that WorldCom sold and even less about the company's accounting.

"I know what I don't know and to this day, I don't know about technology and I don't know about finance and accounting," Mr. Ebbers said in testimony at his criminal trial in Federal District Court.

"But I focused on the area I thought I could handle," he added, referring to his role managing WorldCom's salesmen. Mr. Ebbers sought to paint his role as largely that of "coach" for the telecommunications carrier that at its peak was worth more than $100 billion in stock market value.

Prosecutors contend that he orchestrated an elaborate $11 billion fraud that led to the biggest corporate bankruptcy in history and toppled the company he helped build from scratch.

http://nytimes.com/2005/02/28/business/28cnd-ebbers.html?hp&ex=1109653200&en=3ce9de2d2b6877af&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Trillo]

1. They pay me as much as they do because of my ignorance.

What a mockery.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. He needs to give back every penny he took.

Also, we need to go through every corporation in this country to see how pervasive this problem is of having top management just looking pretty and not knowing a damn thing about the company. I mean, it's one thing for idiot Republicans to vote one in on of these dummies into the office of the presidency, but it's another to have them at the helm of our stock portfolios.

[aquart]

2. MBA?

[joeybee12]

3. Ah, the George W. Bush defense...

...works like a charm!

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. You know, it really is the Bush defense:

" displayed a folksy innocence that was part of the defense effort to cast him as someone who relied on others with greater expertise to handle the details of running "

Done.

[Nite Owl]

4. The Buck Stops Here

does not apply to these scum. They only expect to collet the big bucks with no responsibility.

[PA Democrat]

5. Sorry, but if these guys want their obscene compensation packages

then they MUST also accept accountability for all of the ongoing operations of the company. I'm sick of seeing honest hardworking people lose their lifesavings and their jobs because of arrogant, greedy and irresponsible CEO prima donnas.

[Mokito]

6. Whaaaaaaa

No sir, I don't know what this company does, produces, sells or even how it works...can I be a CEO now?

[bemildred]

7. Do cheerleaders usually get paid that much? nt

[givemebackmycountry]

9. Bullshit

I work for Sprint, and THANK GOD the Sprint-WCON merger fell through even though we all got rocked big time in falling share prices and big time lay-offs.

This asshole knew EXACTLY what he was doing, and he was a micro-manager to the extreme. Monitoring how much coffee was drank in their many offices, and how long people were taking for smoke breaks by watching them out of his office window and timing them on his Rolex.

If this bastard walks, I'm hoping someone takes his bible-class teaching ass out with...well...I'll let that one go.

AT&T and Sprint was laying off tens of thousands of good hard working people, because they were chasing the "ghost finances" of the crooks at WComm.

I knew he was guilty when the first thing he did when he got bounced as CEO, was return to Mississippi and start teaching a bible study class.

He's going to need that bible, because there are a lot of people who want his head on a platter.

[PurityOfEssence]

10. I are a kleptocrat. These boys is the ones whut done wrong.

How kin ya blame ME? Hell, ever since them phones stopped havin' that rotary dial thing, I kin hardly even figger out how to use the dang things. They all told me I was a visionary, which don't make much sense, seein' how I wear bifocals an' all, but the money just came a'dumpin' by my mailbox sorta like them Thai chicks knockin' on Neil Bush's hotel door. Whatta ya expect? I ain't made-a stone. Gosh, how's I to know we's doin' things a bit wonkity and all that?

They tol' me I'se a hero of enterprise. I always liked Star Trek, so that sounded about right. Hell, it's just money; why's everybody all upset?

[TexasLawyer]

11. I know NUTHINK!

This guy is so full of it! I hope his phony defense falls through.

"But the Ebbers trial is perhaps the most vivid illustration of the "Sergeant Schultz" defense at work, and it stands in contrast to Mr. Ebbers's uncanny ability to win the confidence of Wall Street and investors in his drive to expand the company. Mr. Ebbers was intimately involved in the company almost from its beginnings as tiny reseller of long-distance phone service in 1983. He was at the center of dozens of mergers and acquisitions that turned his company into a telecommunications behemoth. "

[cosmicdot]

12. according to the Worldcom proxy to shareholders dated 4/22/02

he held 26,946,871 shares of Worldcom Group Stock, and 697,528 shares of MCI Group Stock

had been has been President and Chief Executive
Officer of WorldCom since April 1985

and, was paid ...


NAME AND PRINCIPAL POSITION
Bernard J. Ebbers
President and Chief Executive Officer

YEAR 2001
SALARY($) 1,000,000
BONUS($)
OTHER ANNUAL COMPENSATION($) 39,463 (Includes the imputed value of personal use of the corporate airplane)
RESTRICTED STOCK AWARD(S)($)
SECURITIES UNDERLYING OPTIONS/SARS(#) 1,238,280/0
ALL OTHER COMPENSATION 8,500 (Matching contributions to WorldCom's 401(k)


YEAR 2000
SALARY($) 1,000,000
BONUS($) 10,000,000
OTHER ANNUAL COMPENSATION($) 41,756
SECURITIES UNDERLYING OPTIONS/SARS(#) 1,238,280
ALL OTHER OMPENSATION 8,500 Plan)
YEAR 1999
SALARY($) 935,000
BONUS($) 7,500,000
OTHER ANNUAL COMPENSATION($) 52,624
SECURITIES UNDERLYING OPTIONS/SARS(#) 1,857,420
ALL OTHER OMPENSATION 8,000

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/723527/000091205702015985/a2077247zdef14a.txt


... and, he knows nothing? I'm just a coach?? :7

[Moderator]

14. kick to combine threads

[Career Prole]

15. Ebbers to Jury: I Was Clueless

Former WorldCom CEO Bernard J. Ebbers took the witness stand on Feb. 28 to defend himself against fraud and conspiracy charges that could put him in jail for 25 years. He hadn't been expected to take the risk of testifying, because it would leave him vulnerable to a potentially damaging cross-examination by prosecutors in federal court in New York. But early signs show that the gamble could pay off for the 63-year-old entrepreneur, who firmly and consistently denied any wrongdoing during six hours of direct testimony and cross-examination.

<snip>

Ebbers is counting, in part, on his more flattering life story. The tall, bearded former gym teacher spent hours recounting the story of his rise from humble beginnings in Edmonton, Canada, to his failures in colleges, and his ultimate success in the motel and telecom businesses in Mississippi. He testified that he had anonymously donated $100 million to charity over the years.

<snip>

Ebbers was far from a perfect witness though, frustrating prosecutors on even small points. Prosecutor David Anders displayed a memo from Ebbers to a finance executive. Ebbers called the subordinate's work "insufficient" and demanded the subordinate tell him "what's so difficult to understand." Having reviewed the old e-mail, Anders wanted to know if Ebbers agreed that he was upset when he wrote it. Ebbers, who kept his hands folded in his lap, leaned over and told Anders, "I don't understand 'upset.'"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bw/20050301/bs_bw/nf20050314191db035

"He testified that he had anonymously donated $100 million to charity over the years."

Ooh! Ooh! Me too! Me too!
I'll have to remember that one if I'm ever on trial... :eyes:

[trotsky]

16. Which is why we have to pay CEOs so much, I guess.

So they can be clueless about the companies they are supposed to be ultimately responsible for.

[shaolinmonkey]

17. If you were so clueless and bad at your job, Mr. Ebbers,

please refund all the money you made to your shareholders. You stupid, incompetent fuck.

[Demit]

18. How much of that $100 mil did he steal from stockholders, to donate?

Slime.

[cthrumatrix]

19. the old "ignorance claim"...just like bush.... ebbers is going DOWN

[Rose Siding]

20. NYT says he's still clueless today. And combative...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A combative Bernard Ebbers, the one-time CEO of WorldCom Inc., on Tuesday sought to distance himself from former finance chief Scott Sullivan under heated questioning by a U.S. prosecutor at his criminal trial.

Ebbers is testifying in his own defense this week at a trial to determine whether he orchestrated WorldCom's $11 billion accounting fraud -- and has spent much of his time blaming Sullivan for the scandal.
...
Indeed, Ebbers was often defiant and refused to concede even minor points during the cross-examination.

When, for instance, the prosecutor asked Ebbers whether a magazine had named him 2002 Telecom Executive of the Year, the former CEO said he could not recall.

He also said he could not recall receiving monthly revenue reports; adamantly denied using his job as CEO of WorldCom for personal financial gain; and maintained that he paid attention to costs such as coffee for employees but not expenses related to long-distance networks.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-crime-ebbers.html?