 industry was subject to the same meltdown that hit the rest of the tech sector beginning in late 2000. According to Forbes, the industry's market value plummeted by $1 trillion after the Dow Jones Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Introduction took its dive. Mergers also fell by the wayside. In July 2000, a proposed deal between Sprint and WorldCom fell through when the Justice Department filed a lawsuit that attempted to block the deal. The prospect of a lengthy DOJ suit effectively killed the merger, and it may similarly discourage future unions. Compounding the gloom in the industry, some major telecoms had high-profile problems in their accounting departments. The two biggest offenders were WorldCom and Global Crossing, both of which ran afoul of the feds in 2002. WorldCom filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in July 2002, racking up $41 billion in debts and an estimated $11 billion in fraudulent expenses - leading to a $100 billion loss to shareholders. Even as the company attempted a rebound, emerging from bankruptcy in April 2004 with a lighter debt load, a moderately healthy outlook, and a less tarnished name (the company reverted to the MCI brand), it had to contend with scores of class-action lawsuits; former chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers also faced a growing list of federal fraud and conspiracy charges as late as Spring 2004. Accounting firm Citigroup announced in May 2004 that it would pay $2.65 billion to investors for its role in the scandal. The turmoil led some industry analysts to speculate about a possible sale of MCI to one of its Baby Bell competitors; at presstime, both Verizon and Qwest were trying to purchase MCI. A debt burden of $12.4 billion, along with an oversupply of high- speed network capacity, led to Global Crossing's Chapter 11 filing in January 2002. The outcome was predictable in this er