NYT: MCI Faces New Fraud Investigation

The New York Times reported that the federal government has launched a new inquiry into whether MCI defrauded other carriers by disguising local and long distance calls in order to avoid paying access fees to local telephone companies at each end of the call. The scheme reportedly changed the origination billing codes in order to pass off the local access charges to another carrier. The allegations claim that the scheme goes back nearly a decade and that it is still on-going. The New York Times cites MCI officials as saying the charges are unfounded and just another attempt by competitors to derail its emergence from bankruptcy proceedings.