Ebbers, CFO Clashed, Exec Says

WorldCom head Bernard J. Ebbers was a temperamental manager who complained that his chief financial officer was too conservative in the projections he gave Wall Street, a former WorldCom executive testified Tuesday.

Scott Hamilton, who was head of investor relations under Ebbers, described the former chief executive as “abrupt and curt” at times and said Ebbers paid “good attention to detail” about finances.

Hamilton testified in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the government neared the end of its case against Ebbers, who is accused of overseeing the $11-billion accounting fraud that sank WorldCom Inc. in 2002.

He said the relationship between Ebbers and CFO Scott D. Sullivan became strained in 2000, and said Ebbers made clear to him that Sullivan was too conservative in his outlook of WorldCom’s financial future.