Sold for $7.4 M

Scrushy estate, hangar sold to HealthSouth Corporation to help pay judgement

By Laura Johnson | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The sale of Richard Scrushy’s multi-million dollar Lake Martin estate was finalized on the steps of the Tallapoosa County Courthouse Monday when it was awarded to Wade Tucker on behalf of HealthSouth Corp. for almost $8 million.

“The man that started all this is in a jail cell and we’re standing here making a right from a wrong,” Tucker said to a crowd of reporters after the sale.

About 100 people, including several from Dadeville and the surrounding communities, showed up not to bid, but to watch the auction of Scrushy’s lake home. That is almost twice the amount that attended the sale of the former CEOs watercraft, which were sold at his former Willow Point airplane hangar earlier in October.

Scrushy is just one in a line of CEOs of major corporations who have been accused of fraudulently driving their company’s finances into the ground since the collapse of Enron. These CEOs and their downfalls have garnered attention from New York to L.A. and everywhere in between, but the recent Scrushy sales have brought the issue home and people in Dadeville are talking about it.

“I would just like to see the people who were hurt by everything Scrushy has done be compensated,” local resident Mary Anne Ashurst said.

Many other local residents have echoed Ashurst’s sentiments about Scrushy.

“I hope that the people who were wronged will get compensation,” said Cheryl Haggerty.

And several more, from outside the area, have too.

Sam and Dian George of Alabaster broke from their vacation at nearby Lake Wedowee to watch the proceedings. They stood along the perimeter of the courthouse lawn to watch.

“Now he is losing everything and I hope he does because the HealthSouth people need that money,” said Dian George. “I hope they can get as much as they can for these people.”

Sheriff Jimmy Abbett conducted the auction from the steps of the Tallapoosa County Courthouse in Dadeville shortly after 11 a.m. He said both sales had drawn tremendous attention.

John Somerville took the winning bids on Tucker’s behalf. He claimed Scrushy’s Willow Point airplane hangar for $435,000 and called the winning bid for the home at $7.4 million. Nearly $8 million was credited toward Scrushy’s $3 billion debt nearly $8 million, instead of paying for the property outright.

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