What Blago-report.com is about, and where it comes from:
It has been nearly five years since I crashed a trial in Birmingham, Alabama.
I spent over six months attending every day of the trial of Richard M. Scrushy, who was being tried on a thirty-two count indictment that came swirling out of a $2.8 billion fraud that nearly toppled the company he had founded. It was an era of rampant corporate greed (with names like Tyco, WorldCom and the flagship Enron making daily headlines) and in the HealthSouth case, it seems the company wasn’t making the earnings they were reporting, hadn’t been for years. Scrushy’s wealth has been variously set, but it was said to have topped out at over $900 million. At its core, it was a simple story: Scrushy was the flamboyant CEO of HealthSouth who had made millions off of money that didn’t exist. With 15 executives taking a plea and cooperating with the government—including every CFO the company ever had—it was an open and shut case.
What I did in Birmingham has not been done often—perhaps for good reason as it is a test of endurance—and I’m not sure how success is measured when working on projects of this nature. Beginning with crashing the trial in Birmingham, and attending the government’s do-over a year later, in Montgomery—in that 2nd trial, Scrushy was tried with the former governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman—I acquired a fair share of people who supported and admired my work, and at least a smattering of detractors, often people who felt I didn’t say enough nice things about their side or enough bad things about the opposition. But along the way, the work has been quoted or cited in at least two books, some of the reports have been used as teaching aides in college classrooms, it was read daily by both the prosecution and defense who found the information accurate enough to serve as a bellwether of how their case was progressing, it was read in news rooms around the country—both for information and as news—and several articles were written about it. It was even cited in a Congressional Report. But all of this was an accident. I just wanted to do the best I could to dig deep into a story and bring it back for people who might still be interested in plumbing the depths or discovering subtleties that are not always found in our bourgeoning sound-bite world.
The 5-year odyssey that began in Birmingham has been a rollercoaster ride that has not yet come to a stop (Scrushy and Siegelman, convicted in Montgomery, are currently waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if they will review their appeal). And this side-track detour through Chicago will hopefully serve at least four purposes. It will bolster the body of work that has already been started, it will be able to yield a vantage point that can contrast the two Alabama trials with the trial in Chicago, in an effort to identify trends and certain truths about our world that might have been evident in Alabama but are not necessarily particular to a state, it will discover if the regional Midwestern backdrop figures as prominently as regionalism did in the Scrushy trial which was inextricably linked to its Southern roots, and fourth, it will endeavor to bring back the inner-workings and depth of a story by shedding new light on a subject that people already feel that they know everything about.
Did I mention that Richard Scrushy was found not guilty, in Birmingham?
There are some stark similarities between Rod Blagojevich and Richard Scrushy, in their respective cases, and there are also some lessons learned in Alabama that should be applicable to the Chicago case.
For similarities, both men are flamboyant over-the-top charismatic leaders. They were at one time both beloved by their states but later became blighted pariahs while still maintaining a core of staunch supporters. In both cases, audio tapes were at least one centerpiece of the government’s evidence. In both cases (similar to Scrushy’s 2nd trial in Montgomery) elements of the local media were not only tasked with reporting on the situation, but they actually became part of the case. And in both cases, high-level executives or officials took plea deals and cooperated with the government, in an effort to get the Big Fish. And there’s more. Both cases also featured lingering questions left behind in the wake of the suicide of a person close to the case. And both Scrushy and Blagojevich were unbowed by indictment, both men brazenly said they would clear their name and so they likewise refused to alter their lifestyle or assume the mantle of guilt. If asked, both Scrushy and Blagojevich would take one giant side-step and point to all of the things they have done for their city or state or for people in general.
The lessons that were learned include that when people think they know everything about a situation, they don’t. And there is a funny thing about audio tapes: Both sides can claim them as their smoking gun. Assuming that the quality of the tapes makes the vocal tracts clear and understandable because the jury will likely not be able to take the convenient transcripts distributed to the media, by the government, into the evidence room, then there will still be competing theories about just what was being discussed. And context is everything. For instance, Scrushy was heard ominously saying on tape that his children needed a daddy, and Blagojevich is supposed to have said that a Senate seat is valuable. We know what the government is saying these things mean—that Scrushy was worried about going to jail and that Blagojevich was interested in selling an appointment—but squint a little, and other meanings become visible. This brief dialog is not to take an apologist tact for either man, or to suggest that I have any particular knowledge that would suggest Blagojevich will get off—there is a lot more evidence to wade through. But if anything was learned in Alabama, it would indicate that the Chicago case is not as open and shut as it seems.
If you are interested in following the ebb and flow of the trial, of the subtle nuances of the courtroom, check back on this site frequently and we’ll get to the bottom of this together.
It has been nearly five years since I crashed a trial in Birmingham, Alabama.
I spent over six months attending every day of the trial of Richard M. Scrushy, who was being tried on a thirty-two count indictment that came swirling out of a $2.8 billion fraud that nearly toppled the company he had founded. It was an era of rampant corporate greed (with names like Tyco, WorldCom and the flagship Enron making daily headlines) and in the HealthSouth case, it seems the company wasn’t making the earnings they were reporting, hadn’t been for years. Scrushy’s wealth has been variously set, but it was said to have topped out at over $900 million. At its core, it was a simple story: Scrushy was the flamboyant CEO of HealthSouth who had made millions off of money that didn’t exist. With 15 executives taking a plea and cooperating with the government—including every CFO the company ever had—it was an open and shut case.
What I did in Birmingham has not been done often—perhaps for good reason as it is a test of endurance—and I’m not sure how success is measured when working on projects of this nature. Beginning with crashing the trial in Birmingham, and attending the government’s do-over a year later, in Montgomery—in that 2nd trial, Scrushy was tried with the former governor of Alabama, Don Siegelman—I acquired a fair share of people who supported and admired my work, and at least a smattering of detractors, often people who felt I didn’t say enough nice things about their side or enough bad things about the opposition. But along the way, the work has been quoted or cited in at least two books, some of the reports have been used as teaching aides in college classrooms, it was read daily by both the prosecution and defense who found the information accurate enough to serve as a bellwether of how their case was progressing, it was read in news rooms around the country—both for information and as news—and several articles were written about it. It was even cited in a Congressional Report. But all of this was an accident. I just wanted to do the best I could to dig deep into a story and bring it back for people who might still be interested in plumbing the depths or discovering subtleties that are not always found in our bourgeoning sound-bite world.
The 5-year odyssey that began in Birmingham has been a rollercoaster ride that has not yet come to a stop (Scrushy and Siegelman, convicted in Montgomery, are currently waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if they will review their appeal). And this side-track detour through Chicago will hopefully serve at least four purposes. It will bolster the body of work that has already been started, it will be able to yield a vantage point that can contrast the two Alabama trials with the trial in Chicago, in an effort to identify trends and certain truths about our world that might have been evident in Alabama but are not necessarily particular to a state, it will discover if the regional Midwestern backdrop figures as prominently as regionalism did in the Scrushy trial which was inextricably linked to its Southern roots, and fourth, it will endeavor to bring back the inner-workings and depth of a story by shedding new light on a subject that people already feel that they know everything about.
Did I mention that Richard Scrushy was found not guilty, in Birmingham?
There are some stark similarities between Rod Blagojevich and Richard Scrushy, in their respective cases, and there are also some lessons learned in Alabama that should be applicable to the Chicago case.
For similarities, both men are flamboyant over-the-top charismatic leaders. They were at one time both beloved by their states but later became blighted pariahs while still maintaining a core of staunch supporters. In both cases, audio tapes were at least one centerpiece of the government’s evidence. In both cases (similar to Scrushy’s 2nd trial in Montgomery) elements of the local media were not only tasked with reporting on the situation, but they actually became part of the case. And in both cases, high-level executives or officials took plea deals and cooperated with the government, in an effort to get the Big Fish. And there’s more. Both cases also featured lingering questions left behind in the wake of the suicide of a person close to the case. And both Scrushy and Blagojevich were unbowed by indictment, both men brazenly said they would clear their name and so they likewise refused to alter their lifestyle or assume the mantle of guilt. If asked, both Scrushy and Blagojevich would take one giant side-step and point to all of the things they have done for their city or state or for people in general.
The lessons that were learned include that when people think they know everything about a situation, they don’t. And there is a funny thing about audio tapes: Both sides can claim them as their smoking gun. Assuming that the quality of the tapes makes the vocal tracts clear and understandable because the jury will likely not be able to take the convenient transcripts distributed to the media, by the government, into the evidence room, then there will still be competing theories about just what was being discussed. And context is everything. For instance, Scrushy was heard ominously saying on tape that his children needed a daddy, and Blagojevich is supposed to have said that a Senate seat is valuable. We know what the government is saying these things mean—that Scrushy was worried about going to jail and that Blagojevich was interested in selling an appointment—but squint a little, and other meanings become visible. This brief dialog is not to take an apologist tact for either man, or to suggest that I have any particular knowledge that would suggest Blagojevich will get off—there is a lot more evidence to wade through. But if anything was learned in Alabama, it would indicate that the Chicago case is not as open and shut as it seems.
If you are interested in following the ebb and flow of the trial, of the subtle nuances of the courtroom, check back on this site frequently and we’ll get to the bottom of this together.
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