WorldCom: Frustration, disgust over what went wrong

By By William F. West / community editor
July 2, 2002
The collapse of telecommunications giant WorldCom caught Wall Street and Mississippi by surprise and investment advisers are shaking their heads in disgust over what went wrong.
He said the trucks have been outside WorldCom's headquarters in Clinton ever since the wee hours of Wednesday morning "and they haven't left yet."
Wall, 42, who has been in the investment business for two decades, said that the initial reactions "turned from disappointment and a little bit of sadness to shock that is, more turning to shock and anger."
But Wall said, "When you get into fudging the numbers and making things up, it's a whole different story."
He said that he has talked with institutional investment managers from all over the nation.
In particular, he told of a conference call with a fixed-income expert in Atlanta the previous Tuesday afternoon, prior to the news that WorldCom was withholding the truth about billions of dollars in expenses.