Former WorldCom chief signs agreement over fraud charges

Thursday, March 31st 2005, 6:03 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers signs an agreement that will delay action on state charges linked to the $11 (B) billion-dollar accounting scandal at WorldCom.

The agreement was announced yesterday by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Edmondson postponed prosecuting Ebbers on state fraud charges until after he was tried in US District Court in New York. Ebbers is currently awaiting federal sentencing after being convicted of nine federal charges in March. He faces up to 85 years on those convictions.

Edmondson says the agreement with Ebbers stops the statute of limitations in the Oklahoma investigation from running until 30 days after the federal sentencing.

If Ebbers' federal sentence is sufficient, Edmondson says he'll consider dropping the state charges.