The HealthSouth asset management employee's suspicions were correct. Indeed, management at HealthSouth had been "cooking the books" for several years to show a profit and thus continue to endear the company to Wall Street. Fifteen top-level officials, including the COO, pointed the finger at company CEO Richard Scrushy, the autocratic entrepreneur who founded the company in the 1980s on the principle of creating the "McDonald's of Health Care."