A writer said yesterday that Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth

, paid her through a public relations firm to produce several favorable articles for an Alabama newspaper that he reviewed before publication during his fraud trial last year.

The articles appeared in The Birmingham Times, a black-owned weekly in Birmingham, Ale. Mr. Scrushy was acquitted in June in a six-month trial there on all 36 counts against him, despite testimony from former HealthSouth executives who said he presided over a huge accounting fraud. "I sat in that courtroom for six months, and I did everything possible to advocate for his cause", Audrey Lewis, the author of the articles, said in a telephone interview. She said she received $10,000 from Mr. Scrushy through the Lewis Group, a public relations firm, and another $1,000 to help buy a computer. "Scrushy promised me a lot more than what I got". She said.

Charles A. Russell, a spokesman for Mr. Scrushy, said he was not aware of an explicit agreement for the Lewis Group to pay Ms. Lewis. The payments to Ms. Lewis were first reported by The Associated Press yesterday. "There's nothing there I think Richard would have any part of", Mr. Russell said.

Mr. Russell said that Mr. Scrushy reviewed the articles before they were published. "Richard thought she was doing a little, 'F.Y.L, here's what I'm writing,'" Mr. Russell said. Ms. Lewis said that Mr. Russell, a prominent Denver-based crisis communications consultant, was also involved in providing her with financial compensation. She said Mr. Russell wrote her a $2,500 personal check at the end of May 2005; Mr. Russell said that was true. "She was looking for freelance community- relations work after the trial", Mr. Russell said.

Ms. Lewis came into Mr. Scrushy's sphere through Believers Temple Church; she attends services and works as an administrator there. She and Rev. Herman Henderson, the pastor, were part of a group that appeared in court with Mr. Scrushy and often prayed with him during breaks. Before and during the trial, in which 11 of the 18 jurors were black. Mr. Scrushy, who is white, forged ties with Birmingham's African-American population. He joined a predominantly black church, and his foundation donated to it and other black congregations.

Mr. Henderson also said he received payments from Mr. Scrushy in exchange for building support for him among blacks. Mr. Scrushy said in a statement yesterday that his foundation donated money to Mr. Henderson's church, but said the payments were unrelated to his case. "My foundation donated to his church building fund and to a Katrina relief effort that his church sponsored", Mr. Scrushy said. "That's it. Period".

Ms. Lewis, 31, said she was disclosing details about the financial arrangement because Mr. Scrushy still owes her and Mr. Henderson a significant amount of money. Ms. Lewis provided copies of a retainer agreement that Mr. Scrushy signed last April with the Lewis Group, a public relations firm controlled by Jesse J. Lewis Sr., 82, the founder of The Birmingham Times, and a check issued to her in May from the Lewis Group. (Ms. Lewis and Mr. Lewis are not related).

The word "acquitted"(Para. 2) probably means______.

A．discharged

B．arrested

C．quitted

D．punished