Two former WorldCom Inc. executives pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and securities fraud charges, marking a total of four people who have admitted participation in a $7.2 billion accounting scandal that forced one of the largest companies in the world to file for bankruptcy court protection.
Betty L. Vinson, the former director of management reporting, and Troy M. Normand, the former director of legal entity accounting, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud. Buford Yates Jr., WorldCom’s former director of general accounting, and David Myers, the former controller of WorldCom, also have pleaded guilty to felony charges.
Scott D. Sullivan, WorldCom’s former chief financial officer, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud charges in a scandal this summer that further sullied an industry buckling under heavy losses and a tidal wave of bankruptcies.
In a bid to meet the expectations of securities analysts and public investors, WorldCom executives falsely reduced its expenses allowing the company to inflate earnings by $5 billion from the third quarter of 2000 through the first quarter of 2002, federal prosecutors said.
James B. Comey, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the investigation is continuing. Federal prosecutors have not filed any charges against WorldCom’s former chief executive, Bernie Ebbers.
