US bosses cashed in ahead of flop

DIRECTORS of America's top stock market flops cashed in a staggering £43bn worth of shares before the collapse, it has emerged. Executives at AOL Time Warner, Yahoo! and Cisco, all pounded by the hi-tech slump, joined those of scandal-hit Enron, Qwest and Global Crossing to be among the biggest profiteers, reveals business magazine Fortune.

Phil Anschutz, director of Qwest, the telecoms group, topped the list, collecting £1bn from share sales three years ago. Gary Winnick, chairman of rival Global Crossing, collected £330m. Enron director Lou Pai sold £180m in shares barely six months before the energy company's accounting scandals broke. All three companies have since filed for bankruptcy protection.

AOL founder and chairman Steve Case, a chino-clad 'new-economy' icon, collected £310m; Charles Schwab, whose online brokerage empowered private investors, made £230m.

The scale of the greed casts yet another shadow over US boardrooms, pummelled by scandals and massive losses. Confidence was hit again as US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection, sending shares across the sector into a tailspin on Monday.

The heads of more than 700 US companies have until 19 August to 'certify' their accounts under oath. Most have still not complied with the new law and half the FTSE 100 companies listed in New York must follow suit. Sir Martin Sorrell, head of advertising group WPP, says he will do so. Unilever's Niall FitzGerald has signed.

The Sarbanes-Oxley securities law will extend US regulators' jurisdiction over the chief executive, finance director and auditors of all companies with New York listings. According to its provisions, bosses must give back bonuses if the accounts need to be restated.