Richard Scrushy

Last year was a good year for federal healthcare fraud investigators, who expect to recover a total of $1.47 billion from fraud cases filed in fiscal 2005, according to a report in political newspaper The Hill. Working under the auspices of the federal Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program, which began in 1997, the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services have recovered a total of $8.85 billion to date, according to …

A year ago, former HealthSouth exec Richard Scrushy was acquitted of charges related to the spectacular $2.7 billion accounting fraud that brought the chain of rehabilitation hospitals down. In the process of his defense, Richard Scrushy accrued $32 million in legal charges. An arbitrator has determined that HealthSouth must pay $17 million in legal fees that Scrushy amassed in the course of his defense. It's a hefty reward, but only fixes some of his problems. As a result of accounting …

Last year former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy avoided a conviction related to HealthSouth's $2.64 billion fraud scandal. But as a result of the accounting irregularities, Scrushy walked off with $47.8 million in bonus payments. Now the Alabama Supreme Court has upheld an order requiring him to repay the company $51.5 million--the bonus payment plus interest totaling $15,500 a day. In their opinion, the Court stated, "Scrushy was unjustly enriched by the payment of the bonuses, which …

HealthSouth, which is still in the process of recovering form a 2.7 billion accounting scandal, announced that it many sell its surgery centers and outpatient rehabilitation unit. The company would to center its efforts on its more lucrative inpatient rehab hospitals, which account for over half of company's revenue and 86 percent of operating earnings. HealthSouth hopes that the sale of the unit will help the company pay off $1 billion of debt in five years. In 2003 the company was the …

Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy was found guilty of bribing the governor of Alabama in a closely-watched case. A jury in Birmingham found both Scrushy and former Alabama governor Don Sigelman guilty of federal fraud charges. Prosecutors say Scrushy paid $500,000 to Sigelman for a guaranteed seat on the state's hospital board. The former executive was found guilty of bribery, mail fraud and conspiracy charges. Legal analysts expect both Scrushy and Sigelman to face "significant" …

The Wall Street Journal reports that the ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy appears to have benefited from a series of rather suspiciously timed stock-option grants during his tenure with the company. Scrushy is the latest CEO to endure the heat of a WSJ backdating investigation, joining UnitedHealth's Dr. Bill McGuire and Renal Care's Sam Brooks. The newspaper notes that Scrushy, who won an acquittal in his federal fraud trial last year, did not exercise any of the …

HealthSouth said Friday that it still has problems with internal financial controls and that its losses for 2005 were at least $260 million greater than the year before. The company, which plans to release results for the year at the end of the month, warned in a SEC filing that a new report due soon its accounting firm will contain "an adverse opinion" of its internal controls. The rehabilitation chain has been in the spotlight since 2003, when a federal investigation uncovered a $2.7 …

> Search engine company Healthline, which won itself New York Times coverage earlier this week, is back in the news, announcing it has won $14 million in series A funding. The round was led by VantagePoint Venture Partners. Article

> More legal problems surface for ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy as a grand jury hears …

Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy paid a journalist to write flattering articles about him during his trial on federal fraud charges. The writer, Audrey Lewis, admits she was paid $10,000 through a PR firm for a series of pieces on Scrushy that appeared in the Birmingham Times. Scrushy was acquitted of the fraud charges after a contentious trial in which his defense team was accused of using improper tactics to win the sympathies of a majority African-American jury. In the …

Ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy said he is resigning his position on the board of his old company. Last fall, the executive was acquitted on federal charges related to the massive accounting fraud at the Birmingham, AL-based hospital chain. After the trial Scrushy announced plans to win his old job back, despite warnings that a comeback was probably impossible. The new HealthSouth board was in no mood to welcome him back and will be relieved at his resignation. Scrushy remains under …