editorial comment Well, one needs help when designing creative accounting scheme....Keep counting your filters, Ebbers. Maybe paraphernalia will hire Mr. Sullivan. We need accounting help :)

BY ROBERT GEARTY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


WorldCom lightning rod and former finance chief Scott Sullivan said former CEO Bernie Ebbers (below), who's on trial for fraud, helped him cook books that led to firm's bankruptcy.

The chief witness against ex-WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers took the stand yesterday, touching on drug use and coffee filters at the once high-flying telecom giant.

Scott Sullivan, the government's star witness, told a Manhattan Federal Court jury that he used marijuana and cocaine for a number of years, including the time he was WorldCom's chief financial officer.

"I first used cocaine in 1989, 1990 on up to 1999, actually 2000, maybe one instance in 2001," said Sullivan. 42, of Boca Raton.

He said he used cocaine with other WorldCom colleagues, but never during working hours.

Sullivan said he failed to mention his drug use, or a 1984 drunk driving conviction, when he applied for a Defense Department security clearance several years ago.

He portrayed Ebbers, who's on trial for fraud and could face 25 years in prison if convicted, as a micromanager of the first order.

To avoid paying for airline tickets, Ebbers ordered execs to drive from Atlanta to Mississippi where WorldCom was located, said Sullivan.

He also said Ebbers kept count of the coffee filters in the office.

"He said there are more coffee filters than coffee bags, that means employes are taking coffee bags home," said the witness.

When prosecutor William Johnson asked what happened, Sullivan said the employe coffee service was eliminated.

"We cut that expense," said Sullivan. "We needed to cut a lot more expenses."

Sullivan pleaded guilty to cooking the books last year and is testifying against Ebbers in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.

Prosecutors charge Ebbers, a 63-year-old former milkman who amassed a $1.4 billion fortune as the driving force behind WorldCom, masterminded the $11 billion accounting fraud that forced WorldCom to declare bankruptcy in 2002.

Sullivan admitted he falsified financial statements and said the others who helped him included "Bernie."

Ebbers stared intently as Sullivan testified, but the only time the witness looked back was when he was asked by the prosecutor if he saw Ebbers in the courtroom.

Sullivan joined WorldCom in 1992 and said he was at Ebbers' side as WorldCom grew. He said the growth stopped when the Justice Department blocked WorldCom from acquiring Sprint.

He said Ebbers was deeply interested in financial matters, casting him as more knowledgable about profits and losses than CFO's at other companies.

Sullivan testified Ebbers could be moody and that he was afraid of him.

"At times I was," he said. "He can be very intimidating, very imposing."

Sullivan's testimony continues today.

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