Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy settled a lawsuit brought by the SEC today, agreeing to pay $81 million in forfeitures and fines. As part of the agreement, Scrushy cannot serve as an executive or a director of a publicly traded company, but he may solicit the court to lift the restriction after five years.

As big as that number might seem, another order issued today by U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson will count judgments and settlements in three other civil cases as a credit toward the final fee. The total from those other cases so far has been $71.5 million, essentially leaving Scrushy another $9.5 million behind after the settlement today.

While the settlement sets Scrushy back several million, it is also a bitter compromise for the SEC, which faced a daunting case against Scrushy in federal court. While the burden of proof in a civil lawsuit would have been lighter than in a criminal case, the SEC would have tried the case before a judge, Johnson, who has often been incredulous of the government’s claims.

In 2003, after a federal investigation uncovered a $2.7 billion accounting fraud at HealthSouth, the SEC sought to freeze all of Scrushy’s bank accounts and personal assets. After nine days of hearings that year, Judge Johnson scolded the SEC attorneys for being too aggressive and gave Scrushy access again to all of his wealth.

In 2005, after a trial lasting almost six months, Scrushy was acquitted of criminal charges that he participated in the fraud at HealthSouth. However, last year a jury in Montgomery found Scrushy guilty of bribing former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

Since the conclusion of that trial, the Scrushy defense has, in a bizarre series of motions, introduced what it claims are emails among the jurors that were transmitted during the trial. Absent further proof that the emails are legitimate, U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller has ruled that they are not grounds for a new trial.

Also, last week, the Scrushy defense filed a motion for Judge Fuller to recuse himself from the case and grant Scrushy a new trial. According to the motion, Fuller has invested in an aviation contractor that does business with the U.S. Air Force. One of the prosecutors in the case, Assistant United States Attorney Steven Feaga, also serves in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, where he might have had purview over the contracts, according to the motion.

Judge Fuller gave prosecutors until today to file a response to the defense motion.

Judge Fuller has not yet set a sentencing date for Scrushy or Siegelman. Before that can happen, U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Coody must rule on a pretrial motion concerning the racial makeup of the jury pool. However, a similar motion in a different criminal case in the district last year was denied and could serve as a precedent for the Scrushy case.

Meanwhile, Scrushy’s attorneys cannot comment on the SEC lawsuit, as part of their settlement in the case. His attorney, Art Leach, did say that Scrushy would continue to defend himself against numerous other civil lawsuits, including federal class action lawsuits from shareholders and bondholders, as well as a derivatives action pending in state court.

As part of the settlement, Scrushy neither denies or accepts the claims brought by the SEC that he had played a role in the HealthSouth fraud.

— Kyle Whitmire