MCI creditors seek subpoena power

A committee of unsecured creditors in the MCI bankruptcy proceedings, backed by the Los Angeles law firm Hennigan, Bennett and Dorman LLP, has asked the court for subpoena power to help them investigate recent allegations of fraudulent call routing practices in the hopes of proving fraud and antitrust violations against other major carriers.

The committee alleges that AT&T, SBC Communications and Verizon Communications cooperating and coordinated their efforts to promote the allegations against MCI and slow their emergence from Chapter 11. The committee also named public relations firm Issue Dynamics as party to the grass-roots movement to smear MCI.

The committee has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for a hearing and to grant it investigative powers in order to gain access to the records and communications of MCI’s accusers.

Verizon has not commented, but AT&T has reiterated its position that the fraud allegations were the result of a U.S. attorney's investigation along with its own evidence.

"AT&T has hard evidence of MCI's fraud, a description of which is before the bankruptcy court," Jim Cicconi, general counsel of AT&T said in a statement. "It is a common practice of those engaged in illegal conduct, when challenged, to attempt to shift the focus to the motives or integrity of the victims. Here the creditors have done that one better, seeking to make the victims the exclusive subject of the inquiry."

MCI is conducting an internal investigation regarding the call routing allegations.