Richard Scrushy's Home Sold On Courthouse Steps

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 22nd 2009 at 8:01PM

Back in October I wrote about the sell-off of the belongings of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and now his Vestavia, Alabama home has been auctioned off for the appraised value of $4.25 million. Scrushy has been ordered to pay nearly $2.9 billion to shareholders and his belongings are being divvied up in order to begin to help satisfy that ruling. Just how much money Scrushy has isn't clear but lawyers have been rounding up his many belongings and fighting Scrushy's legal team every step of the way.

HealthSouth shareholders had filed a lawsuit claiming Scrushy was involved in years of overstating the company's earnings and assets so that it looked like the company was meeting the Wall Street forecasts. He was acquitted in a federal criminal case over related charges and testified in the state civil case that he knew nothing about any fraud but is currently serving a sentence for a 2006 conviction in a separate state government bribery case. Scrushy's many belongings included a yacht, several homes and 19 cars which were sold at auction for a total of $850,000.

According to CBS 42, Scrushy's home was bought on behalf of HealthSouth shareholders by Wade Tucker, the original plaintiff from a 2002 lawsuit against Scrushy. There were no other bids on the home. The plan is to eventually sell the house to the public. It will get a makeover by being used as the Decorator's ShowHouse fundraiser for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. First they have to remove the remaining disputed belongings still claimed by Leslie Scrushy. The 18,000 square foot house, if it went up for sale on the open market, would be one of the most expensive homes in the area.

Tags: alabama, healthsouth, richard scrushy, RichardScrushy