The House Financial Services Committee is issuing a series of subpoenas against WorldCom executives requiring the corporate officers of the scandal-hit telecoms firm to testify before Congress.
"We are issuing subpoenas," a spokeswoman for the committee told reporters.
Earlier US regulators charged WorldCom with fraud, after the communications giant admitted it hid almost $4 billion (€3.85 billion) of costs.
The disclosure has left in doubt the future of 180 jobs at WorldCom's Irish operations, and the firm's ability to provide telecoms and data services to 6,000 customers. In line with Europe yesterday, shock waves from the latest US corporate crisis knocked €1.4 billion, or about 3 per cent, off the value of the Irish stock market.
US Treasury Secretary Mr Paul O'Neill said the accounting scandal perpetrated by WorldCom is likely to have been initiated by several people, and that corporate officers who commit fraud should be prosecuted "to the full extent of the law".
Speaking on ABC television, the US treasury secretary said that WorldCom's $3.8 billion profit restatement is "just mind-boggling."
"And I think it's not possible for it to be done by one individual. The scope of what they've done at WorldCom requires complicity of quite a few people I think," Mr O'Neill said.
"Our system depends on integrity and trust... I think we've got to prosecute people to the full extent of the law. In some cases, we need to strengthen the law," he said.
US President Mr George W. Bush said he was "deeply concerned" and called for a full investigation of a scandal that rivals the collapse of bankrupt energy trader Enron. WorldCom's stocks and bonds caved on the news, and sent shock waves throughout global markets.
In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged WorldCom with acting to manipulate its earnings to keep them in line with Wall Street's expectations.
The US Justice Department, which has the power to bring criminal charges, said WorldCom was under review, but declined further comment. Its investigation of Enron led to the conviction earlier this month of auditor Andersen, which also had vetted WorldCom's books.
The revelation of dodgy accounting could derail the Clinton, Mississippi-based telecom company’s efforts to secure $5 billion in new financing and force it into bankruptcy, analysts said.
A source close to WorldCom's banks said the deal is dead, leaving it with insufficient funds to cover expenses and interest payments on $30 billion in debt.
The size of the scandal that the company disclosed on Tuesday night shocked even hardened Wall Street veterans, causing people to wonder who's next and when the wave of corporate scandals will end.