Stories of "modern call center hell" submitted by MCI staffers. By Andrew Orlowski. [Register]

"The gargantuan telecommunications firm WorldCom announced on Tuesday that it is restating its financial statements for 2001 and first quarter 2002 because of incorrect capital expenditure accounting." News and reader discussion. [Plastic]

The former chief executive of Worldcom is charged with fraud, conspiracy and making false statements regarding the company's finances.[BBC]

"WorldCom's employees are feeling betrayed and bitter." By Nick Childs. [BBC News]

"The financial scandal that has enveloped WorldCom, one of America's largest phone companies, was unearthed by an employee running a spot check on the Mississippi-based company's books." By Julian Borger and Richard Wray. [Guardian]

"With 40% of internet traffic using WorldCom's network, worries are spreading about what effect a collapse might have." [BBC News]

The Register falls victim to MCI "random billing". By Andrew Orlowski. [Register]

"SBC Ameritech Illinois filed a complaint with the Illinois Commerce Commission calling for an end to alleged deceptive sales and marketing practices, and slamming by WorldCom Inc.'s MCI Group." [SF Gate]

The commission charged Scott D. Sullivan, WorldCom's former Chief Financial Officer, with altering WorldCom's books and making false and misleading statements about the health of the company. [SEC]

"The WorldCom disclosures confirm that accounting improprieties of unprecedented magnitude have been committed in the public markets."

Provides links to SEC and court documents regarding the WorldCom case.

"US regulators are scrambling to line up new accounting rules in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom affairs, but are they doing enough?" Analysis by Jeremy Scott-Joynt. [BBC News]

"WorldCom, the disgraced telecommunications giant, has today been told it has until Monday to explain to regulators how it inflated profits by $4bn (£2.5bn)." By Mark Tran. [Guardian]

"The Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against WorldCom yesterday and President Bush vowed to 'hold people accountable' for the bookkeeping scandal at the company, the nation's second-largest long-distance provider and a major carrier of Internet traffic." By Simon Romero. [New York Times] [Free subscription required.]

"WorldCom today moved closer to bankruptcy as US regulators formally charged the telecoms giant with fraud by inflating its profits through improper accounting." By Mark Tran. [Guardian]

"The US telecoms giant is set to give details of 17,000 job cuts as Congress and officials start the investigation into the firm's accounting fraud." [BBC News]

"Telecom sector reels after accounting disclosure." By Shawn Langolis. [CBS Marketwatch]

"Ros Taylor takes a look at how the American media are reacting to the latest corporate scandal to rock the financial markets." Press review. [Guardian]