He, and many others, thought he was in the clear. But, former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, despite pleas for clemency citing a conversion to priesthood, the funding of his church, and his nine children, has been sentenced to six years and ten months in prison for bribery. The charges include six counts of conspiracy and one count of mail fraud. Scrushy was acquitted two years prior to this on 89 counts of corporate accounting fraud in the Enron-scale fraud case at HealthSouth.

Also convicted and sentenced to over seven years in prison is former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. The two convictions were based on the alleged involvement of Scrushy and Siegelman in a plot to influence hospital building permissions in favor of HealthSouth.

Commentary:Many people guessed Scrushy was in the clear when he was acquitted of corporate fraud two years ago. Many people guessed wrong, including – we are sheepish to admit – us!