SEC loses bid on Scrushy assets

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Thursday, May 8, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A judge gave fired HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard M. Scrushy access to all his money and property, ruling the government failed to prove he was involved in fraud.

U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson denied the Securities and Exchange Commission's request to continue a freeze on Scrushy's assets. She also ordered the SEC's civil suit against him halted pending the resolution of any criminal charges.

Scrushy has not been charged in a $2.5 billion accounting fraud at the outpatient surgery and rehabilitation company.

The SEC accuses Scrushy and the company of inflating earnings by $1.4 billion between 1999 and mid-2002.