Prosecutor: Pressure 'Corrupted' Ebbers

[Robbien]

<snip>

He also reminded the jury that Ebbers was under crushing financial pressure: With most of Ebbers' money tied up in WorldCom stock, he owed hundreds of millions of dollars to Bank of America . Every time WorldCom's stock price hit a new low, the bank wanted Ebbers to come up with more cash or pledge more stock to cover his loans.

"Who had the greatest motivation to fool WorldCom investors?" Johnson asked. "Who had the most to lose if the truth, the bad news came out? Who had the power, the ultimate authority at WorldCom to direct all these people to do all these things to make it work?"

Johnson saved some of his most stinging criticism for Ebbers' performance on the witness stand. Under questioning from his own lawyer Monday, Ebbers sounded modest about his rise from part-time bar bouncer to telecom billionaire. He said he knew little of accounting and ran WorldCom like a coach, picking the best players and letting them play.

"When he said he was not sophisticated, not trained in accounting, he treated you no better than he treated ordinary shareholders," Johnson said. "He lied right to your face. It insults your intelligence that Ebbers could have built the company up from nothing in 10 years and still be clueless about its financial performance."

The defense will present its closing argument today, followed by the government's rebuttal. After Judge Barbara Jones instructs the jury on the charges Ebbers faces, deliberations will begin.

http://www.cio-today.com/ciobusbrf/story.xhtml?story_title=Prosecutor--Pressure--Corrupted--Ebbers&story_id=30896&category=ciobusbrf

[Canuckistanian]

1. Even a bar bouncer knows when he's in serious debt.

How "sophisticated" do you have to be?