Similarities Between Healthsouth And Enron

One of the main defenses E&Y took during the early stages of the HealthSouth suit was the fact that the SEC had no well-defined rules with regards to audit-related practices. Another defense was the mere fact that E&Y never faced a criminal indictment for the HealthSouth fraud. This was mainly due to the statute of limitations placed on securities fraud. It sets it at the earlier of (a) 2 years after the discovery of the facts constituting the violation or (2) 5 years after such violation. Thus, the DOJ was unable to file criminal charges against the firm because the partner on the audit (G. Marcus Neas) was “unaware” of the fraud in 1993.

In 1984, Richard Scrushy founded HealthSouth in Birmingham, Alabama. Scrushy was the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) when the company went public in 1986. HealthSouth grew quickly over the next several years. Shortly after HealthSouth went public, it is alleged that Scrushy instructed senior staff to materially inflate the company’s earning to match expectations. In 2002, the first sign of troubles occurred when Scrushy sold $75 million of HealthSouth stock days before HealthSouth announced a large loss. After this the SEC began to investigate if any insider trading laws had been violated. In 2003,

Overview of the Case: The Securities and Exchange Commission claims Mark D. Begelman misused proprietary information regarding the merger of Bluegreen Corporation with BFC Financial Corporation. Mr. Begelman allegedly learned of the acquisition through a network of professional connections known as the World Presidents’ Organization (Maglich). Members of this organization freely share non-public business information with other members in confidence; however, Mr. Begelman allegedly did not abide by the organization’s mandate of secrecy and leveraged private information into a lucrative security transaction. As stated in the summary of the case by the SEC, “Mark D. Begelman, a member of the World Presidents’ Organization (“WPO”), abused

HealthSouth Corporation was incorporated in January 1984 in Birmingham, Alabma by the founder Richard M. Scrushy. HealthSouth Corporation is the leading provider of medical rehabilitation health care and outpatient surgery services in the United States. Richard M. Scrushy was the former CEO& Founder of HealthSouth Corporation, and there were 5 CFO which were Aaron Beam, Weston, Smith, Bill Owens, Michael Martin and Tadd Mcvay.

HealthSouth is one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers specializing in rehabilitation. HealthSouth was founded by Richard M. Scrushy in 1984 and went public in 1986. Scrushy served as its Chairman of the Board from 1994 to 2002. The company was incorporated in January 1984 as Amcare Inc. before its name was changed to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Corporation in May 1985. In January of 2003, Mr. Scrushy reassumed the position of CEO.

The story of HealthSouth begins with two of the most well know founders. Richard Scrushy was a bold, charismatic man of middle-class beginnings. He would rise from a mason to one of the highest earning CEO’s in the country due mainly to his ability to drive, charm, and manipulate those around him. Driven by the desire to attain wealth and status Scrushy was hired in at LifeMark where he rose through the ranks as a result of his unbridled competitive nature and workaholic tendencies.

A forensic audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that HealthSouth Corporation 's cumulative earnings were overstated by anywhere from $3.8 billion to $4.6 billion, according to a January 2004 report issued by the scandal-ridden health-care concern. HealthSouth acknowledged that the forensic audit discovered at least another $1.3 billion dollars in suspect financial reporting in addition to the previously estimated $2.5 billion. The scandal 's postmortem report

In the news recent was the Miami physician pleads guilty for role in $20 Million health care fraud scheme (Justice. Gov). The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case, which was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida (Justice.

Dr. Darren Sewell filed the lawsuit in 2009.  He actually worked at both plans, Freedom Health and Optimum HealthCare. Both plans were both based in Florida.  Dr. Sewell worked for them from 2007 to 2012.

Mr. Kazakos reported these transactions to HRSA during a meeting on February 7, 2017. On February 8, 2017, the Organization received a preliminary audit finding from HRSA that led to the suspension of Ms. Haar’s employment. Later that month, California’s Department of Health Care Services (“DHCS”) reported that 100% of all state based health insurance payments to Horisons were suspended and Horisons’ license to operate was suspended and deactivated. Furthermore Ms. Haar and Horisons are being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office and the California Department of Justice for alleged fraud and

HealthSouth Corporation was one of the largest publicly traded owners of rehabilitative hospitals within the Untied States and paved the way for its industry. However, prior to 2003 the company had a very dark secret: fraud. In 2003 HealthSouth was accused of making $2.7 billion in false journal entries in the company’s system (Helios, 2013). These false entries allowed the corporation to inflate its earnings and revenue. While the corporation was dabbling in a fraudulent, aggressive account system, auditors were unable to detect the extent of the fraud occurring. If not for Michael Vines and Weston Smith, HealthSouth Corporation might have continued its false entries and continued deceiving shareholders and even Wall Street itself. HealthSouth serves as a historical example of how corporate culture can use fraud and deception schemes to not only rationalize what it is doing, which is an element of the fraud triangle, but also encourage fraudulent financial statements.

Rising costs of healthcare is a valid concern for many households in America. A factor in the cost of healthcare insurance is fraud. Fraud is often very difficult to detect. The magnitude of healthcare fraud is unknown. Initial reimbursement and payment and billing timeframe of 90 days allows for fast payment of services, however, many times before there is an indication of fraudulent billing the company has closed up and moved on. Fraud in American healthcare, costs American’s millions perhaps even billions of dollars annually. Without doubt, behind every act of fraud lies a lapse in ethics. This paper will review several pieces of literature to look

On March 19 of the year 2003, Securities and Exchange Commission brought the trading of HealthSouth to an end on the New York stock exchange, charging the company for inflating its earnings by more than 10 percent and overstated its profits by more than $2.5 billion between 1999 and 2002. HealthSouth’s trading reached to $30.81 in the year 1998, but ever since the trading of the company has been put to an end it reached to $3.91 per share. One week later, Owens pleaded guilty to changing and editing the company’s financial statements.

Most of the world has heard of Enron, the American, mega-energy company that “cooked their books” ( ) and cost their investors billions of dollars in lost earnings and retirement funds. While much of the controversy surrounding the Enron scandal focused on the losses of investors, unethical practices of executives and questionable accounting tactics, there were many others within close proximity to the turmoil. It begs the question- who was really at fault and what has been done to prevent it from happening again?

Unfortunately, scandals like Enron are not isolated incidents and the last decade has offered Americans a disheartening perspective with comparable scandals like that of WorldCom and Tyco, Sunbeam, Global Crossing and many more. Companies have a concrete responsibility not just to their investors but to society as a whole to have practices which deter corporate greed and looting and which actively and effectively work to prevent such things from happening. This