The former CEO of HealthSouth, Richard Scrushy, was found not guilty on 36 counts, which included things like conspiracy, money laundering, mail fraud, and making false statements.
The company almost went bankrupt because of a huge $2.7 billion accounting fraud scandal, that Scrushy was accused of being tied to. 15 staff members of HealthSouth have pleaded guilty.
Scrushy, a local Birmingham celebrity, was among a group of high-profile U.S. corporate executives who have been tried for financial wrongdoing in a string of accounting scandals, and is the first so-far to be found not guilty.
Had he been found guilty, Scrushy could have spent the rest of his life in jail and been forced to forfeit millions of dollars and personal property, including multiple homes, luxury boats and airplanes.
“God is good,” said Scrushy. “We went from 85 counts to zero…There are a lot of wrongs that need to be made right and I look forward to seeing that happen.”
Obviously, the prosecution who accused Scrushy of inflating HealthSouth’s profit between 1996 and 2002, didn’t share Scrushy’s enthusiasm after the reading of the verdict.
“This is a stunning defeat for the government,” said Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor. “I think they have to be scratching their heads over exactly how this one slipped away from them. What the defense was able to do here was raise questions as to the motives of all of these various cooperators.”
After the reading of the verdict, HealthSouth issued a statement saying that Scrushy would not be allowed to come back to the company under any circumstances, because they found it appalling that such a gigantic fraud could even occur under his management.
Chris is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
