By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – The Richard M. Scrushy Charitable Foundation handed out 716-thousand dollars during 2005. Tax records show that most of it went to churches and religious groups. The donations were made in the same year that pastors and leaders of the religious organizations regularly attended Scrushy's fraud trial in Birmingham. Scrushy's foundation reported donations to 25 organizations during 2005. An analysis by The Birmingham News found that only three had no apparent connections with a church or religious group. In its earlier years, the foundation gave to many different kinds of groups. But in 2003, it began a transition toward giving large sums to religious organizations. Tax documents show the largest donation in 2005 was 164-thousand dollars to Guiding Light Church, a predominantly black church that Scrushy began attending in 2003. The foundation also gave 151-thousand dollars to Project One. That's an organization headed by Pastor James Scott Moore of Trinity Life Church in Bessemer. Trinity Life also received a separate 37-thousand dollar donation from Scrushy's foundation in 2005. Moore supported Scrushy during his trial in Birmingham. The trial ended with Scrushy's acquittal.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)