Scare Tactics at Health South

November 19, 2003 8:25 AM

How to Make Money and Influence People. Five workers who made false accounting entries during a huge fraud at HealthSouth Corp. kept silent out of fear after realizing the company was buying guns, grenades and spy equipment, according to testimony Wednesday at the first sentencing in the case. Richard Scrushy has been mentioned here before, but his intimidation tactics are a new revelation.
posted by whoshotwho (10 comments total)

Gee, I hadn't realized this case was over and Scrushy had been sentenced already. Boy, that was fast. Oh, wait, I see that was from DAY 1 of the prosecution's case. Maybe, just maybe, no matter the outcome of the case, people should reserve condemnation until the end. But, I suppose that innocence until proved guilty only looks good on paper these days in America.
posted by Pollomacho at 9:14 AM on November 19, 2003

but his intimidation tactics are a new revelation. If you're a CPS, think the introduction of Accounting 101 would intimidate you not to do these things, since it tells you it is a federal crime even done unintentionally, dopes.
posted by thomcatspike at 9:24 AM on November 19, 2003

I find this piece to be very, very annoying. How is it that invoices for clearly business-unrelated purchases can be used to intimidate the folks down in accounts payable? I suppose I could figure it out, but the writer could have done a bit more to set this up, discuss the culture and generally help the reader understand the context of it. Otherwise, it's just like saying, "my boss kept telling me about his large penis. I was afraid that he'd fire me because of it, if I didn't do what he said." WTF, mate?
posted by psmealey at 9:38 AM on November 19, 2003

That's the point, Thomcat. Scrushy was intimidating them into doing it, regardless of the penalty they knew they faced, because they thought he might kill them if they didn't go along. I know how crazy it sounds, but apparently people at every level of the organization were well aware of what was going on, and were motivated by fear not to do anything about it.

And Pollomacho, who's rushing to condemnation? I'm mentioning a pretty wild aspect of the prosecution's case -- the guy was threatening people with at least the possibility they would kill him if they didn't participate in his alleged $2.7 million embezzlement scheme. I didn't say anywhere that he was guilty, even though I believe he is.

On preview: PSmealey, the thing is that apparently nobody in the company really believed they were entirely business-unrelated.
posted by whoshotwho at 9:42 AM on November 19, 2003

Along with having $278M US in personal goods confiscated, Scrushy could be staring at an extra $36M US in fines, which doesn't even account for legal fees.

But if you ask me, I think it was the indictment calling for 650 years' worth of legal sentences which made him nervous.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:42 AM on November 19, 2003

LoopSouth is not affiliated with this organization...
posted by LoopSouth at 11:42 AM on November 19, 2003

Five workers who [allegedly] made false accounting entries during a huge fraud at HealthSouth Corp. [allegedly] kept silent out of fear after realizing the company was buying guns, grenades and spy equipment, according to testimony Wednesday at the first sentencing in the case. Richard Scrushy has been mentioned here before, but his [alleged] intimidation tactics are a new revelation [to anyone who hasn't been following this case for the last few months].

Now, I realize that this is technical and that most of the problems I have are with the article's condemnation and not your own (sorry to shoot the messenger), I just happen to think that even someone who I too believe at this time is guilty gets a fair trial. This is after all the accountant's sentencing for something they've been convicted of, of course they are going to say anything to stay out of jail. Scrushy has JUST been charged earlier this month, the ink on his jury selection dates aren't even dry yet, so I'd say it's a bit premature to pass judgement on him.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:14 PM on November 19, 2003

Oh, please drop the first [allegedly] those five that testified are convicted.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:38 PM on November 19, 2003

It's too early to pass judgement on Scrushy on criminal charges only. Otherwise, it's OK to say that, looking at the evidence (say, the hiring of that all-girl band and trying to get into the entertainment industry, etc.), it seems clear that this guy: a) Shouldn't be flashing his money anymore, and should just look into the concept of tact in general and b) He's a terrible executive, a candidate for the American Mismanagement Hall of Infamy, at the very least, and should never be allowed anywhere near a publicly-traded company again, even if facets of the HealthSouth story are highly entertaining, in an absurdist fashion.
posted by raysmj at 2:22 PM on November 19, 2003

um, that's all we get about the guns, grenades, bugs and spy-wigs!?!? Inquiring minds want to know!
posted by freebird at 3:33 PM on November 19, 2003