WorldCom Inc said its general counsel and treasurer resigned Tuesday, a day after they were criticized in a report about the bankrupt company's former management and lack of oversight.
Michael Salsbury was an executive vice president and counsel; Susan Mayer was a senior vice president and treasurer. They submitted their resignations to WorldCom's board of directors.
Their continued employment also could have posed a public relations problem for WorldCom chief executive Michael Capellas, who had said all employees implicated in the company's financial wrongdoing had been fired or quit.
WorldCom's accounting scandal led to the largest bankruptcy filing in US history last July. The telecommunications giant hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 protection this fall, renamed MCI and headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia.
The report, prepared by former attorney general Richard Thornburgh for WorldCom's bankruptcy judge, noted that Salsbury executed a more than US$6 billion acquisition agreement in February 2001 without the board's approval.
In a statement, Salsbury said his resignation was in the company's best interest to show the public that it is committed to reform.
Mayer was singled out in Thornburgh's report for her role in loans WorldCom made to former chief executive Bernard Ebbers.
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