WorldCom filed suit against its former Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan last Friday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi, according to a court clerk.
The suit is seeking to recover a US$10 million bonus awarded to Sullivan in 2000, according to a report in Monday's Washington Post. The bonus was contingent on Sullivan staying with the Clinton, Mississippi, company through the end of 2002. Sullivan was fired as WorldCom's CFO in late June after the company announced it would have to restate its figures for fiscal year 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 after it uncovered almost US$4 billion in accounting irregularities.
Since that revelation, WorldCom has been hit with a handful of lawsuits from private investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mississippi Secretary of State. The company's stock has also been battered, losing most of its value since it resumed trading late last week. The stock (Nasdaq: WCOME) could still be removed from the Nasdaq exchange, pending a hearing.
Current and former WorldCom executives are testifying Monday before a U.S. Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C. Sullivan and former WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers are both expected to invoke their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.