Oklahama City, Sept 18: MCI's former chief financial officer pleaded innocent today to charges he violated Oklahoma securities laws in an $11 billion accounting scandal that led to the biggest bankruptcy in US history. Scott Sullivan, former chief financial officer for the long-distance company then known as WorldCom, was booked earlier in the day and then released after posting $50,000 bail. He was fingerprinted and photographed as part of the booking process. The company and five other executives, including former chief executive Bernie Ebbers, are also charged with defrauding Oklahoma investors by understating $11 billion in expenses to inflate reported profits. Sullivan and four of the executives have also been charged in federal court, but the Oklahoma charges are the first brought against the company and Ebbers.
"The charges are unwarranted as a matter of law, and unfair as a matter of practicality," Roy Black, Sullivan's Attorney, said after Sullivan entered his plea before Oklahoma county district judge Russell Hall.

Each of the six executives charged by Oklahoma are accused of 15 felony counts, each carrying up to a 10-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.


Ebbers also pleaded innocent to the charges Sept. 3 and was released on $50,000 bail.

The charges, brought by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, allege that WorldCom's falsified profit reports led Oklahoma investors to lose millions, including a $64 million hit to state pension funds invested in the company.

Bureau Report