HealthSouth Civil Lawsuit Seeks $2.6B From Scrushy

JAY REEVES

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Shareholders want HealthSouth Corp.'s founder Richard Scrushy to pay $2.6 billion for his alleged role in a huge fraud that nearly ruined the rehabilitation company, attorneys told a judge Monday.

A lawsuit, filed by stockholders on behalf of the company, seeks to make Scrushy repay HealthSouth for salary, bonuses and stock deals during the years of the accounting scheme, for hundreds of personal plane flights for him and his family and breast implants for a female singer he was promoting.

Once known for his flashy style, Scrushy, who was fired, could be ordered to pay most of the cost of a long-running conspiracy uncovered in 2003, even though court documents indicate he doesn't have the money and is in prison for a federal bribery conviction.

A defense attorney said Scrushy was an unwitting victim of the deception, just like others. Evidence showed top company executives cooked the books for about seven years, overstating revenues and assets by millions each quarter to hide that it wasn't meeting Wall Street projections.

Scrushy, 56, is expected to give his first public testimony about the scandal during the civil trial that is being heard by Circuit Judge Allwin E. Horn without a jury in Birmingham.