Disgraced business figure Richard Scrushy

Note: Wherever there are huge sums of money to be made, temptation also dwells. Most of us--professors for example-- work in jobs that offer scant opportunities for graft and corruption, and perhaps we are honest because there is little opportunity to do otherwise. Corporate titans, on the other hand, sometimes succumb to the desire not simply to be rich, but mega-rich, and do things they, the ones who get caught, are terribly sorry about later. Others serve a little time in stir but emerge from prison still in possession of most of their ill-gotten gains.

Some of these figures simply appear to be larcenous from top to bottom. Others make illegal use of inside information to enrich themselves. Still others buy politicians to help them get what they want. (Sadly, the higher up influence-peddling politicians are, the less likely that the public is to believe that he or she could be so slimy.)

In our present misguided, polarized era in which major corporate CEOs often make perhaps 300 times the compensation of the mean compensation of their employees, the crooked business figure can absolutely ruin the lives of a lot of people with their various schemes for self-enrichment.

In addition, the occasional business titan, like some of our powerful politicians, brings trouble down upon himself for non-financial reasons of a more personal nature.




A good example of what's wrong with the current system of health care in the United States is Richard Scrushy, who founded and ran HealthSouth Corporation, one of the nation's biggest health care firms.

As this is being written, many well-meaning Americans are howling like wounded wolves about the idea of creating a public option in health insurance. Saddest are those ranting that they "don't want the no-good socialistic fed-rul gumment" getting involved in Medicare, apparently not realizing that Medicare is and has always been a government program.

After doing a little college teaching, Scrushy went to work for the Texas health care firm Lifemark, for which he eventually became CEO. In 1983, he founded his own such company, Amcare, and only a year thereafter started HealthSouth, a company he grew into a corporate giant. Scrushy soon was said to be one of that nation's highest-paid CEOs.

When a HealthSouth auditor called attention to suspect company practices, the auditor was fired. Fraud accusations were raised anyway, and the firm's profit picture darkened. Improper Medicare billing was charged, and Scrushy found himself facing multiple counts of fraud. In 2005, however, an Alabama jury acquitted him.

Soon thereafter, both he and an ex-governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman, wer indicted in federal court for bribery, racketeering, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. Scrushy pled not guilty, but both he and Siegelman were convicted. Scrushy's appeal was unsuccessful and Siegelman's only partially successful.

Scrushy lost again in a subsequent civil trial to settle damages to HealthSouth stockholders, and in 2009, he was ordered to pony up $2.87 billion. Locating his assets, however, is proving difficult for officials.