FORMER WORLDCOM EXECUTIVE EBBERS FILE PHOTO, 2002-07-21 (photo)

WorldCom Inc. said it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 21, 2002 in the nation's largest insolvency after the long-distance telephone and data services company buckled under a $3.85 billion accounting scandal and a mountain of "junk-rated" debt. The company said it expects to get up to $2 billion in funding that would allow it to keep operating under a bankruptcy reorganization, WorldCom Chief Executive John Sidgmore said in a telephone interview. WorldCom founder and former chief executive Bernard Ebbers, who was ousted in April 2002 after the company's stock had fallen 90 percent in 12 months, scratches his forehead after taking the Fifth Amendment, against self-incrimination, before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in this July 8, 2002 file photo. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang ME