Mr Jack Grubman, of the Salomon Smith Barney brokerage house sullied by the WorldCom collapse, offered his resignation last night, and it was accepted, said a spokeswoman for Citigroup, Salomon's parent company.
Mr Grubman, in his letter of resignation, said he was "proud" of his work, even though, as an analyst who earned $20 million in a year, he failed to forsee the meltdown of the telecommunications industry, or of WorldCom, the largest US bankruptcy ever. "While I regret that I, like many others, failed to predict the collapse of the telecommunications sector and I understand the disappointment and anger felt by investors as a result of that collapse, I am nevertheless proud of the work I, and the analysts who worked with me, did", he insisted.
"However, the current climate of criticism has made it impossible to perform work to the standards I believe the clients of Salomon Smith Barney deserve," he said.
Mr Grubman testified before a US Congress committee on July 8th that despite repeated meetings with WorldCom directors, he had no idea of the company's questioned accounting practices.
"The constant barrage of unsubstantiated, negative reports has also obviously made it personally very difficult for me to do my work and has caused my family great pain," Mr Grubman wrote.
The scandal surrounding WorldCom took a dramatic turn late yesterday as the beleaguered US telecom giant admitted discovering an additional $3.3 billion in improperly reported earnings.
The announcement brought to $7.1 billion the total earnings misreported by the once high-flying Clinton, Mississippi-based telecommunications company, which filed last month for bankruptcy protection. AFP