Alliance Capital Management, the biggest shareholder in WorldCom as of March 31, 2002, is likely to be licking its wounds after the US telecoms firm admitted to a huge $3.8bn (€3.83bn) accounting fraud.

Data from Thomson Financial shows that Alliance was the largest shareholder in the troubled US firm with 7.07% at the end of March, having nearly doubled its stake from the end of the fourth quarter of 2001. Alliance is currently being sued by the Florida State Board of Administration (FSBA), which runs $126bn of pension funds in Florida, for $300m over losses incurred from investing in Enron, the collapsed US energy company.