The US Department of Justice is preparing to indict WorldCom former CEO Bernard Ebbers on numerous charges stemming from the severe mismanagement of accounts which has led to the company's recent financial melt-down, the Associated Press reports.

Apparently the Feds are focusing on Ebbers in hopes that former CFO Scott Sullivan and former Controller David Myers will turn on him. Ebbers has said under oath to Congress that he's innocent and has indicated that Sullivan is the true badguy.

That Ebbers should be the main target indicates one of two things: either the Feds have evidence showing his hand in the debacle (which will make him a felon again for lying under oath to Congress), or he's being held responsible symbolically because, as the CEO, he should have seen to it that the company's finances were above board. If the latter, we can take it as a warning to other CEOs that they'd better get their houses in order.

No doubt Myers and Sullivan are being sweated pretty hard, yet soothed with the prospect of lighter sentences in exchange for the dirt on their former boss. It's always entertaining when a pack of rats turns on each other, and we look forward with great eagerness to some spectacular moments on Court TV in the near future. ®