The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a proposed settlement requiring WorldCom to pay a civil penalty of $1.51 billion for its fraudulent conduct. As a result of the company’s pending bankruptcy case, the proposed settlement provides for satisfaction of the Commission’s judgment by WorldCom’s payment, after review and approval of the terms of the settlement by the bankruptcy court, of $500 million. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the funds paid by WorldCom in satisfaction of the Commission’s judgment will be distributed to victims of the company’s fraud. WorldCom is charged with misleading investors by overstating its income from at least as early as 1999 through Q1 2002.
http://www.sec.gov
- The SEC has already filed civil charges against four former employees of WorldCom: WorldCom Controller David F. Myers; former WorldCom Director of General Accounting Buford “Buddy” Yates, Jr., and Betty L. Vinson and Troy M. Normand, former accountants in WorldCom’s General Accounting Department