ethics_60203

Posted: 5/30/03

HealthSouth executive, accused of
fraud, heard sermons on ethics

By Greg Garrison

Religion News Service

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) –HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy, accused by federal investigators of overseeing massive accounting fraud, sat through many Sunday sermons on corporate ethics and the hazards of wealth, his pastor says.

“Richard has been a part of our church and has heard and responded to strong messages about biblical ethics,” said William Elder, pastor of MountainTop Community Church in the affluent Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills. Scrushy has attended services there for six years with his third wife, Leslie, and as many as five of his eight children. “They're at church when they're in town most of the time,” Elder said.

Scrushy donated $600,000 toward construction of the church's $11.5 million new building. The ousted chief executive of the nation's largest chain of rehabilitation hospitals has kept a low profile in recent weeks and has missed worship services since being accused of accounting fraud. But the church still supports him, Elder said.

“We are trying to reach out to him every way we can,” the pastor said. “God does incredible things with repentance and brokenness.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Scrushy of insider trading and inflating profits by $1.4 billion to prop up the value of the stock he sold. One of eight former HealthSouth executives who has pleaded guilty so far told investigators of another $1.1 billion in false profit claims.

The federal accusations of fraud at HealthSouth have again raised the issue of a lack of corporate ethics in America. No criminal charges have been brought against Scrushy, but a grand jury is investigating.

The temptation to abandon integrity and long-term business stability in favor of short-term profit runs rampant in corporate America, say business ethics experts.

“Nobody usually starts off trying to defraud,” said Rick Boxx, founder of Integrity Resource Center in Kansas City, Mo. “It's usually a small step at first, then once they get away with it, it expands.”

Unethical executive behavior has been blamed for scandals at Adelphia, Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco and WorldCom.

Elder said he hopes Scrushy didn't do what he's accused of–insider trading and faking $2.5 billion in profits.

“We don't know that he did anything wrong,” Elder said. “That remains to be seen. If he did do something wrong, that indicates that he is a sinner, just as we are. We try to walk with sinners. We are a church that loves sinners and hates the sin.”

Scrushy lived in grandeur with multiple mansions, yachts and a fleet of airplanes as one of the nation's highest-paid executives. He had made $169 million in salary, bonuses and exercised options since 1992, taking home $106.8 million in 1997, ranking him as Business Week's third-highest paid U.S. executive. He once said he wanted to be the highest-paid CEO in the world.

Another noted executive, Enron CEO Kenneth Lay, son of a Baptist minister and a member of the board of trustees at First United Methodist Church in Houston, had his churchgoing ridiculed by comedians after the Enron scandal broke.

Elder said he preached often on the dangers of wealth with Scrushy in the congregation.

“We talk a lot about ethics in the workplace and stewardship,” Elder said. “Richard has heard messages on the rich young ruler, the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son. He always responds positively.”