Did the Buck Stop Anywhere at WorldCom? (NYT-Business) [View All]

(In honor of Martha's release :) Now can we get the real bad guys?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/04/business/04ebbers.html?th

A charismatic coach who delegated the details, or a shrewd schemer in bumpkin's clothing?

The defense and prosecution have painted distinctly different portraits in the case against Bernard J. Ebbers, the former WorldCom chief executive accused of masterminding an $11 billion fraud that toppled his company in 2002. So the jurors might be excused for having difficulty determining the "real" Mr. Ebbers as they begin deliberating today whether he is guilty of fraud, conspiracy and filing false claims with regulators.

If convicted, Mr. Ebbers, 63, could go to prison for the rest of his life.

The defense has argued that Mr. Ebbers, a former Mississippi gym teacher, milkman and bouncer, used guile and bravado to build a tiny reseller of long-distance phone service into a global telecommunications giant. But they say that he restricted his duties to motivating his sales force and cutting costs. It was the sophisticated deputies he brought aboard through more than three dozen mergers who were in charge of the company's complex technology and accounting activities, the lawyers say.

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