NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy was indicted Tuesday on 85 criminal counts stemming from a $2.7 billion accounting fraud at the physical rehabilitation company.
The charges included conspiracy to commit fraud, filing false financial statements, money laundering and securities and wire fraud while he headed Birmingham, Ala.-based HealthSouth.
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| Former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy |
Scrushy, who founded HealthSouth, pleaded not guilty to all 85 charges and has denied that he helped inflate earnings or had any part in the accounting fraud. He has blamed the scandal on underlings.
"Instead of telling the public the truth, Richard Scrushy and his accomplices lied -- they cooked HealthSouth's books and Scrushy personally vouched for false financial statements with the SEC to cover up their scheme," Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray said in a statement.
"It may be a complex case from their side, but if our man is innocent, did not do it, did not participate, did not know about it, there's nothing complex about that," said Donald Watkins, Scrushy's lead attorney.
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 CNNfn's Fred Katayama reports on former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy's indictment on 85 criminal counts.
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Scrushy also issued a statement on his Web site, www.richardmscrushy.com, claiming his innocence.
"As I have said from the outset, I am an innocent man. I am deeply disappointed to have my innocence questioned and contested," he said. "However, I now embrace the opportunity to clear my name."
Scrushy, 51, surrendered to the FBI Tuesday morning and was to be arraigned at a federal courthouse in Birmingham.
As prosecutors requested, the judge set bond at $10 million with an additional $1 million in cash. The prosecution team also demanded Scrushy surrender his passport and wear a tracking ankle bracelet.
In a 38-page indictment, Scrushy was accused of overseeing a scheme to deliberately inflate HealthSouth's earnings and assets by more than $2.5 billion over several years.
Fifteen former HealthSouth executives, including the company's five former chief financial officers, have pleaded guilty to a variety of fraud-related charges and agreed to cooperate with the federal probe.
Among the things the government is seeking is that Scrushy be ordered to forfeit $278 million in property including a plantation in Alabama, several airplanes, a yacht, a number of luxury cars including a Rolls-Royce and a Lamborghini, diamond jewelry and paintings by Picasso and Renoir.
If convicted, Scrushy could face 650 years in prison and $36 million in fines, in addition to the forfeitures.
Scrushy is the first chief executive to be accused of violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires top executives at publicly traded companies to certify the accuracy of financial results. The Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law was enacted following the Enron scandal.
His attorneys said U.S. marshals were at Scrushy's home taking inventory of his belongings.
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Scrushy had received $267 million in compensation from HealthSouth between 1996 and 2002, according to Tuesday's indictment. He was ousted as chief executive in March after the company said none of its past financial statements could be trusted.
Scrushy, who sold three-quarters of his HealthSouth stock last year, already was facing a civil complaint of insider trading and fraud brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At a congressional hearing last month, Scrushy invoked his constitutional right not to testify.
-- Reuters contributed to this story.
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