HealthSouth founder settles with SEC for $81M

This could be the final chapter in the convoluted legal troubles of HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy. Scrushy has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a suit resulting from a investigation of his role in the firm's $2.7 billion accounting fraud. The SEC suit asserted that Scrushy ordered executives to cook the books at HealthSouth when earnings were shaky. The now-notorious Scrushy will pay a total of $81 million, including a $3.5 million fine. He'll also give up $77.5 million in profit. Scrushy didn't admit or deny his guilt in the settlement. Some say Scrushy is getting off easy, given that the SEC had originally asked for hundreds of millions of dollars. But he could still face up to 30 years in prison after being convicted of bribing former Alabama governor Don Siegelman to put him on the state's hospital regulatory board.

To find out more about the settlement:
- read this piece from The Washington Post

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