Jury acquits Scrushy on all counts in HealthSouth fraud

Tuesday, June 28th 2005, 11:37 am

By: News On 6

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) _ Jurors acquitted HealthSouth Corp. founder and fired Chief Executive Richard Scrushy on Tuesday of all charges related to a $2.7 billion earnings overstatement at the rehabilitation and medical services chain.

Scrushy had been charged with fraud, false corporate reporting and making false statements to regulators. He was the first CEO charged under the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reporting law.

Scrushy blamed the massive accounting scheme on subordinates including all five finance chiefs who served under him at HealthSouth.

In all, 15 former HealthSouth executives have pleaded guilty since 2003, when the scandal erupted publicly and drove the company to the brink of bankruptcy.