Business

Ex-HealthSouth CFO sentenced

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 17, 2005

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Former HealthSouth chief financial officer Weston Smith has been sentenced to 27 months in prison, the longest jail term handed down so far in the massive accounting scandal at the outpatient services company.

U.S. District Judge Robert B. Propst also ordered Smith to serve one year of probation and forfeit $1.5 million in illegal proceeds for his role in the fraud. He was sentenced on Sept. 22.

Smith is one of 18 former HealthSouth executives charged with various crimes in the wake of an investigation into a $2.7 billion accounting fraud at the Birmingham, Ala.-based company. The longest sentence previously handed down had been a five-month jail term.

Ousted HealthSouth founder Richard M. Scrushy was accused of masterminding the scheme, but a jury acquitted him of all charges in June. Smith was one of several former executives who cooperated with prosecutors and testified at the trial.

Propst also sentenced former HealthSouth vice president Will Hicks to two years of probation, including three months of home detention, and ordered him to forfeit $50,000. Hicks had pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/10/17/bibf1017.htm.

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