Earlier this month, I wrote here with an update on former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, who has been in prison in Alabama since 2007 after being convicted on bribery charges. The conviction was unrelated to the accounting scandal at HealthSouth, for which he was prosecuted and ultimately acquitted in June 2005 after a jury trial.

Beyond his incarceration, Scrushy's problems include a civil judgment obtained against him by HealthSouth shareholders in the staggering amount of $2.9 billion. Scrushy appealed the judgment but last month the Alabama Supreme Court rejected Scrushy's appeal, leaving him personally liable for the full amount. The court's rejection of his appeal led to the latest body blow for Scrushy: a public yard sale this past weekend of many of the belongings from his home in Birmingham, Alabama.

The NY Times reports that the yard sale, which was held in a barn located on the estate, brought in about $164,000, which will be added to $100 million in assets already collected by the shareholders' attorneys. The sale attracted hundreds of bargain hunters and other voyeurs who purchased items such as $120 monogrammed golf bags and $25 Hermès ties taken from Scrushy's home. Others, such as Scrushy's son-in-law, came to the sale to try to buy back "a childhood bicycle and other items of sentimental value," such as the tuxedo that Scrushy wore at one of his weddings.

Topics