Ebbers lied, jurors told

NEW YORK - Greed, power and worry drove Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive of WorldCom, to mastermind a fraud that cost investors billions, a US prosecutor said in closing arguments yesterday.

Assistant US Attorney William Johnson told jurors that under Ebbers' watch, "WorldCom had truly become WorldCon".

Johnson's closing argument came in the final stages of a six-week trial to determine whether Ebbers orchestrated an US$11 billion ($15.3 billion) accounting scandal at WorldCom, the long-distance company he built from a small Mississippi upstart into a telecommunications powerhouse.

"Ebbers faced a choice about admitting to the truth of WorldCom's financial problems or lying to cover them up," Johnson said.

"He chose to commit a crime, to cover up WorldCom's bad business with a fraud."

Ebbers repeatedly denied the charges, saying he was unaware of the fraud and laying the blame on his former right-hand man and finance chief, Scott Sullivan.

Johnson argued yesterday that Ebbers lied to jurors, saying he was driven to cover up WorldCom's problems by greed, power and worry. 
 
Ebbers, 63, who faces up to 85 years in prison if convicted on all charges, is charged with fraud, conspiracy and filing false documents with regulators.

Federal prosecutors charge that Ebbers masterminded the fraud so that WorldCom could meet Wall St's profit estimates and slow the decline in its stock price.

Most of Ebbers' wealth was tied up in the company's stock - which he also used to back US$400 million in personal loans.

- REUTERS