2005年NPR美国国家公共电台六月-Scrushy Declared Not Guilty of Fraud

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This is All Things Considered from NPR news, I'm Robert Siegel and I'm Michele Norris.

In Alabama, jurors've found Richard Scrushy not guilty of all charges. Scrushy is the founder¹ and fired CEO of HealthSouth, the medical services company. And he was accused of masterminding a massive $2.7 billion accounting² fraud to boost the company's earnings³ statement. Scrushy's acquittal was a blow to the Justice Department, which had a string of successes in prosecuting⁴ other corporate⁵ scandals recently. From Birmingham, Melanie Peeples reports.

Richard Scrushy cried and hugged his wife and his attorneys after a federal jury acquitted⁶ him on all 36 charges in a corporate fraud trial that'd stretched over five months. He walked out of the courthouse to a chorus of cheers from fellow church members and ministers, who regularly appeared in court, and prayed at his side.

"I don't understand why people are so critical. What's wrong? What happened to the compassion⁷ in this world and the love we got to have for one another. Jesus has told us how to love each other. We got to have compassion, folks, cause you don't know who's next, who's going to be attacked next."

In addition to his business career, Scrushy is known as the host of a morning Christian⁸ talk show on a local television station here in Birmingham. Scrushy was accused of conspiracy⁹, securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering¹⁰. He'd been the focus of investigation¹¹ since 2002. When he was indicted¹² in 2003, Scrushy blamed the massive fraud on subordinates, including all five finance chiefs who served under him at HealthSouth. Fifteen former HealthSouth executives pleaded guilty in the scandal and much of the prosecution¹³'s case hinged on their testimony¹⁴. US attorney Alice Martin prosecuted¹⁵ the case.

I'm shocked at today's verdict, though we have five CFOs that said they had direct conversations with this man and he saw all of these income but no expenses, now, I'm shocked by the verdict.

After the trial, jurors said they just didn't believe those former CFOs, who had plea bargains with the federal government. Jurors said they believed the prosecution simply lacked substantial evidence. The racial composition of the jury, seven blacks and five whites, may also have played a role. While Scrushy is a white, he was surrounded by black ministers and friends on many days in court, and he has become a member of a black church. His defense¹⁶ and closing arguments compared his trial to the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. US attorney Alice Martin left the courthouse saying that the federal government isn't through with Scrushy.

Next we'll proceed on the appeal on the perjury¹⁷ and obstruction¹⁸ counts that were dismissed, and I'll go on with the other two thousand or so pending¹⁹ cases in the district.

Richard Scrushy was the first CEO to be tried under the Sarbanes-Oxley Law which encourages greater accountability in the wake of corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom. Under Sarbanes-Oxley, CEOs are held legally responsible for the truthfulness²⁰ of all financial documents they sign . Though many herald²¹ the day as the test case for Sarbanes-Oxley, John K, securities law professor of Columbia University said Scrushy's acquittal should not be seen as a failure of the law.

I think this case is more about the difficulty of suing in a special part of the country where the federal government is not a hero against a local businessman who is a hero to some. And in the case where religious affinity²² between the jurors and the defendant²³, may have played a role and they were being willing to believe him, and not the extremely detailed²⁴ testimony from four or five chief financial officers.

This isn't the last day Scrushy will spend in court. He faces charges in a host of civil lawsuits²⁵ that have been filed all across the country by investors²⁶ who say they lost billions when HealthSouth stock prices plummeted²⁷. And in civil court cases, prosecutors²⁸ have much lower burden of proof. Melanie Peeples, NPR news, Birmingham.