Ex-CEO of WorldCom Due to Appear in Court

Bernard J. Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom Inc., is set to appear in an Oklahoma court Wednesday to face criminal charges of violating state securities laws by knowingly giving false information to investors and running a business that operated as a fraud.

The 15-count complaint marked the first criminal charges against Ebbers and the No. 2 U.S. long-distance telephone company, which filed the largest bankruptcy in history last year amid what is now an $11-billion accounting scandal.