Witness Signed False HealthSouth Document

A former HealthSouth Corp. vice president testified that he signed a false loan document after founder Richard Scrushy screamed at him in anger for discussing “fabricated earnings” at the company in 1999.

Leif Murphy, 36, had testified for prosecutors that Scrushy, who is on trial in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala., for his role in a $2.7-billion accounting fraud, berated him in July 1999 over his analysis that HealthSouth’s earnings, if reported accurately, were 72 cents a share below the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

Scrushy attorney Jim Parkman cross-examined Murphy to try to undermine his account. Murphy, who is not charged with a crime and worked in the company’s treasury department, admitted he falsely certified on Aug. 17, 1999, that HealthSouth complied with terms of a $1.75-billion bank loan.