Business
Ex-HealthSouth CFO must pay $6.9 million
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 14, 2006
Former HealthSouth chief financial officer Weston L. Smith has been ordered to pay $6.9 million for his role in the massive accounting fraud at the outpatient services giant.
The order was part of the final judgment issued by U.S. District Judge L. Scott Coogler in Birmingham, Ala., on July 14 in a civil case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC said. The securities regulator had sued in 2003, alleging that Smith directed HealthSouth employees to make false accounting entries to boost the company's earnings.
In a related criminal case, Smith was previously sentenced to serve 27 months in prison. He was one of 16 former HealthSouth executives convicted of criminal charges in the accounting fraud.
Smith must first pay the $1.5 million that he was ordered to pay in the criminal trial before settling up the civil case.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/08/14/bibf0814.htm.
