“Mike Wallace is Here”

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted on August 22, 2026

Mike Wallace sit in his New York office at "60 Minutes."

Friday night, I watched the Netflix documentary titled, "Mike Wallace is Here." It brought back a lot of memories about the story “60 Minutes” produced and aired on former HealthSouth Corporation CEO Richard Scrushy. Mike Wallace was the correspondent for the Scrushy story.

At the time, Scrushy was under an aggressive federal criminal investigation for accounting fraud at HealthSouth. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was also investigating HealthSouth and Scrushy.

In November 2003, Scrushy was indicted on 85 felony counts of HealthSouth-related fraud and was facing up to 650 years in prison, if convicted on all counts. Scrushy maintained his innocence throughout this ordeal.

Scrushy and I flew to New York for an introductory meeting at the headquarters of "60 Minutes." We met with Mike Wallace, segment producer Robert Anderson, and executive producer Don Hewitt.

In 2003, Richard Scrushy and Donald V. Watkins met in New York with "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace.

I was Scrushy's lead criminal defense attorney. In the midst of Scrushy's criminal and SEC investigations, I promised "60 Minutes" that Mike Wallace could interview Scrushy with no lawyer present. We delivered on that promise. The story aired in October 2003.

In June 2005, Richard Scrushy was acquitted on all criminal charges following a six-month jury trial. He exited the courthouse a free man.

Fifteen subordinate HealthSouth employees, who planned and executed a surreptitious $2.7 billion fraud scheme over a 6-year period that was unbeknownst to Scrushy, were convicted in the case.

Eric Ramsey was my First "60 Minutes" Story

Scrushy's story was my second “60 Minutes” feature story. The first one occurred in December 1991 when “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley conducted an exclusive nationally televised interview with Auburn University football player Eric Ramsey about verified "under-the-table" payments to major college athletes.

Ed Bradley

Ramsey's powerful "60 Minutes" story and groundbreaking Congressional testimony in 1994 paved the way for all college athletes to get paid “above-the-table” for the use of their name, image, and likeness.

Eric Ramsey at Auburn University.

I was Ramsey's lawyer, as well. Robert Anderson was the segment producer on the Ramsey story, as well.

Today, Eric Ramsey is a highly successful business owner and film producer in Los Angeles, California.

Eric Ramsey is now a successful business owner and film producer in Los Angeles, California.