WorldCom a 'perfect storm of corruption'

NEW YORK -- Money, power and pressure combined to form a "perfect storm of corruption" that led WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers to commit an enormous fraud, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments.\nProsecutor William Johnson said Ebbers, worried about repaying multimillion-dollar loans that were backed by WorldCom stock, ordered his subordinates to cover up expenses and inflate earnings.\nEven when former finance chief Scott Sullivan warned Ebbers it would be wrong to cook the books, "Ebbers commanded Sullivan to do it anyway," and then lied to the public about it, Johnson said.\n"WorldCom had truly become World-con," the prosecutor said. "He lied over and over again. All of his lies were criminal."\nJohnson said Ebbers had the biggest motive of anyone at WorldCom to cook the books -- and was the only person with the authority to control it.\n"He was WorldCom, and WorldCom was Ebbers," Johnson said. "He built this company. He ran it. Of course he directed this fraud."\n"He lied to your face," Johnson told the jurors. "The 'aw shucks' defense insults your intelligence. You know better."\nThe defense rested its case earlier Wednesday after two days in which Ebbers took the witness stand and denied any role in the $11 billion accounting fraud, saying he only learned about it after he resigned after WorldCom in April 2002.\nThe 63-year-old ex-CEO claimed Monday that Sullivan never told him about the huge adjustments WorldCom accountants were making to inflate earnings and hide out-of-control expenses.\n"He's never told me he made an entry that wasn't right," Ebbers said. "If he had, we wouldn't be here today."\nSullivan, who testified as the star prosecution witness, claimed Ebbers pressured him into committing the fraud. He said he repeatedly told Ebbers it was wrong, but Ebbers insisted that WorldCom must "hit our numbers."\nProsecutors say the remark was an indication that Ebbers, worried about $400 million in personal loans, was desperate for the company to meet Wall Street estimates.\nIn a daylong cross-examination Tuesday, Ebbers said he "just didn't see" glaring irregularities in internal financial papers that he reviewed while the fraud was under way.\nEbbers was presented with a WorldCom budget report that showed so-called line cost expenses at $732 million in September 2000, only half the $1.4 billion budgeted by the company.\nThe report was doctored, reflecting adjustments made by WorldCom accountants to cover up line costs that were much higher that summer than the company expected.\nFederal prosecutor David Anders asked Ebbers whether he noticed the gap.\n"If I would have noticed that, we would not be here today," Ebbers responded. \nThe former CEO said he paid more attention to other expenses in the document, such as administrative costs.\nEbbers is charged with fraud, conspiracy and making false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The charges carry up to 85 years in prison.\nSullivan, who testified for the government earlier in the case, claims Ebbers was obsessed with hitting Wall Street earnings and revenue targets and pressured him each quarter into committing the fraud.\nThe former finance chief said Ebbers attended a meeting during the spring of 2001 in Ashburn, Va., in which he was told that line costs were spiraling out of control.\nEbbers said Tuesday he believed he was invited to that meeting "to do my cheerleader thing and give the troops a little pep talk"