By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Shareholder attorneys and Richard Scrushy met behind closed doors Monday as the fired HealthSouth CEO began sworn testimony in civil lawsuits over the fraud that nearly wrecked the company he founded.
Scrushy has denied any involvement in the $2.7 billion accounting scheme, and jurors acquitted him on criminal charges in the fraud in 2005.
Scrushy's testimony, which was closed to the public, could help shape the course of investor lawsuits seeking at least $1 billion from him, investment bank UBS and the Ernst & Young accounting firm over the HealthSouth debacle.
A federal judge said lawyers had to be finished with the questioning by Friday.