Yahoo! News - WorldCom Execs, Ex-Auditors Clash

Several grilled company founder Ebbers, asking, for example, about the $400 million in loans he received from WorldCom and his $1.5 million annual severance payment for life. Ebbers, sitting stonily with arms crossed, repeatedly cited his Fifth Amendment privilege and declined to answer.

One of our core values is humbleness. How would we respond to congress if we were Ebbers?

Sullivan invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination ... WorldCom's former chief executive officer, Bernard Ebbers, did the same, saying his Washington attorney, Reid Weingarten, advised him to remain silent because of ongoing investigations by the Justice Department ...

We are not in Ebbers shoes. Or are we? What kind of sins are we committing that we have justified to ourselves? Our core value of honesty must admit that Ebbers doesn't look completely innocent, even though we might like to defend him as a brother in Christ. But we can continue to extend grace.