Philadelphia, July 19: WorldCom, the long-distance telephone and data services company buckling under a $3.85 billion accounting scandal and a mountain of debt, may file for bankruptcy protection as early as Monday, sources familiar with the situation said. A bankruptcy filing by WorldCom, which has $104 billion in assets and transmits half the world's Internet traffic, would eclipse the Chapter 11 filing by collapsed energy trader Enron as the nation's largest insolvency.

A WorldCom spokesman declined to comment. Chief Executive John Sidgmore said on July 9 a decision whether to pursue bankruptcy protection, or some other financial reorganisation, would be made within three weeks. The filing is expected early next week, the sources said.
Bureau Report