The former chief financial officer for HealthSouth Corp., who exposed the company's $2.7 billion accounting firm, was sentenced to 27 months in prison -- by far the longest sentence given to any executive at the company.
Weston Smith was one of five former chief financial officers at HealthSouth charged in the scandal. Smith had pleaded guilty to fraud charges, was ordered to forfeit $1.5 million, and will serve one year of probation after his release. Three other former finance chiefs, all sentenced by other judges, received little if any jail time. A day earlier, a judge upheld his sentences of probation time for former vice president Richard Botts and a week in prison for former finance chief Michael Martin.
The company's assistant controller, Emery Harris, served five months, the longest prison term for involvement.
Will Hicks, the former vice president of investment, was sentenced along with Smith after pleading guilty to conspiracy to make false statements to auditors and maintaining false books and records. Hicks will serve three months of home detention, pay a $2,500 fine and forfeit $50,000.
Company founder and former chief executive Richard Scrushy was acquitted in late June on all of the three dozen counts he faced in connection with the scandal, though he still faces civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
