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July 5, 2002 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — According to a report by the Associated Press, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden was selected this week as the court-appointed monitor in the SEC?s civil fraud suit against WorldCom for its accounting practices.
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Breeden, head of the SEC from 1989 to 1993, was selected by US District Judge Jed Rakoff to ensure that documents aren?t destroyed and executives don?t receive payouts from WorldCom during the investigation.
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Rakoff chose Breeden from a pool of three candidates, who were not named in court, submitted by lawyers from both sides, and set a tentative trial date of March 21 for the SEC?s action.
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According to the Judge, Breeden will be paid $800 an hour for his work on the case. His duties will include preventing the destruction of any company documents and making sure that employees of the company are not given payouts while the company flounders. Both of these were issues in the collapse of energy company Enron, which paid millions in last-minute bonuses to executives before filing for bankruptcy in December.
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The Justice Department has also reportedly begun a preliminary investigation into WorldCom, in search of any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by company executives.
