Richard M. Scrushy

Richard M. Scrushy

Richard Marin Scrushy (born August 1952 in Selma, Alabama) is an American business man and founder of HealthSouth Corporation, a global healthcare company based in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 2004, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Scrushy had charges brought against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Scrushy was charged with 36 of the original 85 counts but was acquitted of all charges on June 28, 2005, after a jury trial in Birmingham.

Four months after his acquittal in Birmingham, Scrushy was indicted along with former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman on October 28, 2005, by a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama. The indictment included 30 counts of money laundering, extortion, obstruction of justice, racketeering, and bribery. Although the new charges were filed a month before the previous trial ended, Scrushy's attorneys accused prosecutors of filing charges as retaliation for Scrushy's acquittal. Scrushy pleaded not guilty to all charges, but was convicted along with Siegelman in June 2006.

On May 7, 2009, Scrushy was transferred from the Texas jail where he had been incarcerated and placed in the custody of the Shelby County Jail in Columbiana, Alabama. Scrushy was returned to Alabama in order to testify in a new civil trial in the Jefferson County Circuit Court brought against him by shareholders of HealthSouth who sought damages related to Scrushy's trial and conviction. On June 18, 2009, Judge Allwin E. Horn ruled that Scrushy was responsible for HealthSouth’s fraud, and ordered him to pay $2.87 billion. On July 25, 2012, Richard Scrushy was released from federal custody.