Former WorldCom Chair Agrees to Multi-Million Dollar Settlement

Former WorldCom chairman, Bert C. Roberts has settled investor claims to the tune of $5.5 million dollars. The New York Times (via Bloomberg) has the tale:

Former WorldCom Chairman to Pay $5.5 Million Settlement

By BLOOMBERG NEWS

Published: March 22, 2005

The former chairman of WorldCom, Bert C. Roberts, has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle claims by investors who said he should have known that the company's books were falsified before signing off on $15.4 billion in bond sales.

The settlement, after a $55.25 million agreement reached on Friday by 11 former directors of WorldCom and their insurers, leaves the accounting firm Arthur Andersen as the only remaining defendant in a case now scheduled for trial on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Investors claimed that WorldCom, the long-distance company, lied about its financial health in an effort to prop up its stock.

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If you are interested in Robert's testimony, you can find it here (pdf file). Roberts had been a defense witness, his testimony contrasting that of WorldCom chief financial officer Scott Sullivan. While Sullivan, a star witness for the prosecution, had WorldCom's chief exec Bernie "Hit the Numbers" Ebber's on the hook for fraud, Roberts insisted that Ebbers had no knowledge of the dubious accounting practices that had allowed the company to hide billions in losses from investors.

Well, we know who the jury believed.

-- MDT