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Ex-executives plead not guilty By Gail Appleson Reuters
NEW YORK (Sept. 4) - WorldCom Inc.'s former top finance executive pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of orchestrating one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in history by allegedly masking billions of dollars in expenses at the big phone company.
Government prosecutors also said their probe into WorldCom's $7.68 billion in accounting misstatements was continuing, and they expect more charges to be brought, possibly against additional defendants.
Scott Sullivan, 40, WorldCom's former chief financial officer, entered his not guilty plea in Manhattan federal court to charges that he was behind the alleged scheme aimed at artificially inflating WorldCom's earnings by hiding expenses. The indictment claims that the scheme allowed WorldCom to report earnings inflated by some $5 billion over more than 18 months.
Sullivan, who had been arrested last month, was released on a personal recognizance bond of $10 million.
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