JURIST - Paper Chase: Corporations and securities brief ~ Ex-HealthSouth CFO says Scrushy made all decisions

[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, former HealthSouth Corp. [corporate website] chief financial officer Weston Smith has testified that former CEO Richard Scrushy [official website] made all decisions at the company. The testimony undermines Scrushy's defense that he was unaware of the massive accounting fraud at the company. Read the Scrushy indictment [PDF]. Reuters has more.

In other news...

As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, Time Warner Inc. [corporate website], the world's largest media company, and the SEC [official website] have agreed on a settlement related to fraud charges for overstating online advertising revenues and the number of its Internet subscribers. Time Warner will pay a fine of $300 million and will restate its financial results to reduce its revenues by $500 million from 2000 through 2002. Time Warner did not admit or deny any wrongdoing but will appoint an independent examiner to review the company's accounting practices. Read the Time Warner press release. Read the SEC press release, litigation release, and complaint [PDF]. AP has more.
Internet conglomerate IAC/InterActive [corporate website] announced it will buy Internet search provider Ask Jeeves [corporate website] for $1.85 billion. The move is seen as the beginning of further consolidation in the internet search provider area. Read the IAC/InterActive press release. CNN has more.
The United States has threatened the EU with a new lawsuit over European aid for plane maker Airbus [corporate website] as the EU said it would not budge from its position without further concession by the US on its support for Boeing [corporate website]. The negotiations come after the US and EU launched competing litigation at the WTO [official website] over subsidies in the aviation industry. The negotiations broke down last week as the US accused the EU of backsliding on its commitment to stop state aid to aircraft manufacturers. Reuters has more.
Rambus Inc. [corporate website], a US technology licensing company, has settled its patent case against Germany's Infineon Technologies [corporate website]. Infineon will pay Rambus royalties to settle all outstanding issues. Read the Rambus press release. Read the Infineon press release. Also Monday, Hynix Semiconductor [corporate website] of South Korea announced it has set aside money which would be used to settle a related antitrust case. Reuters has more.

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