Bermuda-based Global Crossing Ltd. paid the former head of the Justice Department's antitrust division more than $2.5 million during the first half of the year to lobby federal officials on a trans-Pacific communications cable.

Anne Bingaman, wife of Jeff Bingaman, a Democratic Senator for New Mexico, contacted the Federal Communications Commission, the White House Council of Economic Advisors and other federal officials on behalf of Global Crossing, according to a lobbyist disclosure report filed with Congress.

Global Crossing hired Mrs. Bingaman as its head lawyer in efforts to obtain an FCC licence for a $1.28 billion project to build an undersea telecommunications cable linking the United States with Japan and other Asian countries.

The cable is part of Global Crossing's plans to create a worldwide network of cables to carry high-speed Internet data.

The company paid Mrs. Bingaman $2.52 million in the first six months of the year, Senator Bingaman's report said. That was more than 20 times the total of $120,000 the company spent on lobbying in the second half of 1998. Global Crossing spokesman Tom Goff did not return a telephone calls to reporters seeking comment.

In a written statement faxed to The Associated Press, Mrs. Bingaman said she spent "at least 90 percent of my time'' working on papers filed at the FCC regarding the Japan cable. She said she never met or spoke to any member of Congress or congressional staff on behalf of Global Crossing.

Mrs. Bingaman said she was paid "in a blend of reduced hourly rate and stock options''. She noted those stock options have lost value since the lobbyist reporting period ended on June 30.

Global Crossing's stock lost more than half its value amid a failed bidding war for the regional telephone company U S West and losses related to construction costs for its network. The stock closed Friday at $38.50 a share on the NASDAQ exchange, down from a 52-week high of $64.25.

Mrs. Bingaman also had worked for the victor in the bidding war for US West, Qwest Communications. Mrs. Bingaman was a top executive at Qwest after she left the Justice Department in 1996 until mid-1998.

She was hired by Global Crossing shortly afterward.

Her husband's financial disclosure report says Mrs. Bingaman earned more than $1 million in capital gains on sales of Qwest stock in 1998.

The lobbyist report and Mrs. Bingaman's statement only say she worked on the Japan cable issue and do not mention the US West deal. Mrs. Bingaman was travelling on Friday in Oklahoma as part of her new job as chief executive officer of another telephone company, DBA Communications, said her secretary, Shannon Hall.