Worldcom Inc

Jurors evaluating accounting fraud charges against former WorldCom Inc. Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers ended their third day of deliberations without a verdict after asking to review his testimony. During several hours of deliberations, the jury in federal court in New York also asked to examine testimony from two ex-WorldCom accountants who testified for prosecutors. Ebbers is accused of leading an $11-billion fraud that helped drive the company, now MCI Inc.

A federal judge ruled that New York state's pension fund should serve as lead plaintiff for a group of shareholders suing WorldCom Inc. The New York State Common Retirement Fund, which has assets of $112 billion, claims it lost an estimated $306 million from the collapse of WorldCom. The fund, for which state Comptroller H. Carl McCall serves as trustee, represents the interests of 950,000 active and retired government employees and their beneficiaries.

WorldCom Inc. has won a contract to provide long-distance services for the Department of Veterans Affairs, despite the efforts of labor and consumer groups seeking to bar it from government work. WorldCom, which filed for bankruptcy protection in July, remains the largest provider of telecommunications services to the federal government, with more than $500 million in new contracts last year.

WorldCom Inc. should not be allowed to merge with MCI Communications Corp. unless federal regulators receive assurances that the new company will serve residential telephone customers, the Consumers Union said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. FCC clearance is the last major regulatory hurdle to the completion of the $37-billion takeover, one of the U.S.' biggest mergers.

WorldCom Inc.'s revised $50-million pay package for Chief Executive Michael Capellas was approved by two federal judges. The pact withholds $6 million in restricted stock awards and gives court-appointed monitor Richard Breeden more say on the new CEO's bonuses. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez endorsed the pact. Rakoff called the revised compensation package WorldCom offered Capellas "eminently reasonable."

WorldCom Inc.'s former home state, Mississippi, claims that the phone company owes it $1 billion in back taxes. WorldCom, which plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection and drop the WorldCom name in favor of MCI, already faces $500 million in claims from more than a dozen other states, along with a motion by the states to remove KPMG as its auditor. Mississippi's claim came to light when the U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge heard arguments on the states' KPMG motion.

WorldCom Inc. asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to give former Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers and ex-Chief Financial Officer Scott D. Sullivan half of a $15-million insurance settlement to help them pay legal defense costs. WorldCom reached a settlement with National Union Fire Insurance Co. on executive liability coverage in November. The insurance was effective in 2002, when an $11-billion accounting scandal forced WorldCom into the biggest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

Former WorldCom Inc. executive Scott D. Sullivan pleaded not guilty to new charges that he lied on financial statements to secure $4.25 billion in credit for the company. Six days after federal prosecutors leveled four new criminal charges against Sullivan, a federal judge postponed his trial, originally set to begin Sept. 8, to Feb. 2, 2004. Overruling government objections, U.S. District Judge Barbara S.

AOL Time Warner Inc. will pay almost $15.9 million to WorldCom Inc. to settle a dispute over amounts the two owe each other under network services and advertising agreements, according to a court-approved settlement. AOL had owed about $28.9 million to WorldCom for network services while the telecommunications provider had owed about $13 million for advertising, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

Former WorldCom Inc. directors including ex-Chief Executive Bernard J. Ebbers agreed to a partial settlement of a lawsuit filed by employees who lost billions of dollars in retirement funds during the phone company's collapse. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan disclosed the tentative accord in an order that didn't reveal any terms. Paul Curnin, a lawyer with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, who represents some directors, declined to comment. WorldCom is now known as MCI Inc.