Aug. 15, 2002: Less than a month after telecommunications giant WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Jack Grubman, the Salomon Smith Barney analyst who championed the company during the dot-com era, resigned. Upon leaving the Citigroup unit, he basically told the press he was being made a scapegoat for the collapse of WorldCom and Global Crossing, another bankrupt telecom company he covered. Perhaps he was. However, unlike other Wall Street analysts, Grubman had unprecedented access to the executives and directors of WorldCom and other telecom companies. He regularly attended WorldCom board meetings. However, he claims he was not privy to the accounting problems at the company. Despite his pleas of ignorance, Grubman eventually was banned from working as an analyst. Today, he reportedly works as a telecom consultant.—Matthew Wurtzel
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