In March of 2018, embattled law firm Balch & Bingham announced the hiring of seven attorneys, three partners and four associates, in Jackson, Mississippi to “enhance [Balch’s] healthcare capabilities.”
Balch did a full-court press and public relations blitz just weeks after a massive exodus of money-making and seasoned partners who left the firm.
Balch rolled out their names and photos (above) with enthusiasm trying to counter the hemorrhaging:
[Balch] announced the addition of partners Tom Kirkland, Allison Simpson and Andy Lowry, and associates Mary Jordan Fuller, Matt Sitton, Perry Taylor and Bea Tolsdorf.
All of them specialized, according to Balch, in a “wide range of regulatory, transactional, appellate and litigation matters in the healthcare industry.”
Tolsdorf
Sadly (and maybe a tale of Balch’s extreme difficulties), in the past six years, all three partners have left the firm along with three associates.
And only one was left: Bea Tolsdorf, who was eventually made partner.
Tom Kirkland, Allison Simpson, and Matt Sitton left to Butler Snow, joining the firm’s Health Law group in August of 2020.
Perry Taylor went into the private sector, Andy Lowry became a law clerk, and Mary Jordan Fuller, Kirkland’s daughter, appears to have become a full-time mom.
Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert was found guilty of bribery and money laundering just four months after these seven joined the firm.
Is the government pork trough of Mississippi and Southern Company’s unholy allegiance keeping the firm alive?
The legal circles are on fire 🔥 speculating about Balch’s future after the once prestigious and feared law firm shut down their Houston office, as we were the first to report last week.
Robinson
Now even more damning news:
Balch legacy partner Brandon N. Robinson of Birmingham has fled the firm after 15 years and has jumped ship to Maynard Nexsen. Robinson is a leading and respected legal expert on cybersecurity and privacy.
Bennett
Two top Balch partners in Austin appear to have resigned in the past week. Stacie Bennett and highly-regarded lobbyist Aaron Cole Gregg have seen their profiles wiped from Balch’s website.
Bennet joined the firm less than two years ago as a partner in their energy practice group while Gregg joined the embattled firm in November of 2021, with great fanfare.
Balch issued a news release at the time, writing:
Aaron, who joins the firm as a partner, is an attorney and lobbyist with demonstrated success working on matters before the Texas Legislature and executive agencies on behalf of corporations, non-profits and trade associations.
Gregg
“Aaron’s experience, long-standing relationships in Texas, respect by his peers and clients and accomplishments are impressive and will add value to our practice, while also enhancing our ability to serve as strategic partners to our clients as we continue our Texas expansion.” said Stan Blanton, managing partner.
Obviously Balch’s Texas expansion has become an apparent implosion.
The stench must be so bad that yet another Balch partner, Andy Lowry, left the firm last year after five years, eventually becoming a law clerk in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi.
A law clerk appears to be a move up, step up, promotion away from the imploding manure lagoon created by the late Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., and amplified by the collector of make-believe diversity awards, Balch’s Managing Partner Stan Blanton.
A former speaker, a child predator, and a money launderer enter a bar near the Pearl River…
The former Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives has made the dumbest career move.
Philip Gunn has joined Balch Policy Advisors, LLC, a subsidiary of embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, according to news reports today.
Gunn joins the firm of the former esteemed Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert, federal inmate 35504-001, who was convicted in 2018 of bribery and money laundering among other crimes in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. He also joins the firm of the former eight-year Balch attorney Chase T. Espy, federal inmate 04104-510, who was convicted forpossession of kiddie porn.
The move comes three months after the public disclosure that Balch’s top client, Southern Company, had been sued for fraud in Mississippi in regards to the Kemper Plant debacle. The false claims suit was unsealed five years after it was filed and seeks up to $1.1 billion in damages. The suit alleges that Southern Company and its subsidiary Mississippi Power repeatedly defrauded the U.S. Department of Energy.
Note that the law firm has set up a subsidiary to funnel money to the former Speaker. Why is that? To hide transparency? To obscure clients? To live off more government pork?
Balch appears to be seeking more contractual cronyism.
As we reported last August:
In Mississippi, Balch, has obtained 76 government contracts worth over $43 million since 2014, according to a state transparency website.
However those financial numbers have plummeted, too.
In 2020, Balch obtained over $12.2 million in Mississippi state contracts that included $2.1 million in consulting fees related to the rental assistance debacle.
In 2021, Balch was given $5.7 million in state government contracts in Mississippi when The Washington Post investigative report was published, rocking the Magnolia State.
Last year, in 2022, their reputation damaged while in the spotlight, Balch was only able to obtain a mere $1.6 million in Mississippi state contracts.
That equals less that a third of what they earned the year before and a mere13 percent of their 2020 contract numbers.
Contractual cronyism appears to be coming to a chilling close.
Will Gunn turn the tide for Balch and expand contractual cronyism? Will Gunn and others cash in I.O.U.’s and bring in clients?
Time to pull out the magnifying glasses and alert the watchdogs.
A former speaker, a child predator, and a money launderer enter a bar near the Pearl River…
After a brief hiatus, BanBalch.com is back. A lot of news is happening in the background and the Southern Company criminal enterprise appears to be trying to clean up (or cover up) their trail of carcasses and human excrement in their million-dollar campaign of fear and intimidation against innocent families, minorities, and us, the CDLU.
New Balch partners: Diverse as a jar of mayonnaise
Balch & Bingham, the embattled and alleged racist law firm, is still in turmoil as Managing Partner Stan Blanton gloats aboutmake-believe diversity awards while promoting four all-white attorneys as partners this month.
Southern Company CEO Chris Womack has hit, and Alabama Power CEO Jeff Peoples will hit, the magic “mandatory retirement age” of 65 . Insiders claim that Alexia Borden, current Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Alabama Power, will replace Peoples, while Kim Greene, CEO of Georgia Power, will replace Womack.
2024 may be the Year of the Woman.
Speaking of women, Kristine L. Svinicki, the former Chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) who became a Member of the Board of Directors of Southern Company in 2021, may have spurred two investigations at the regulatory body: one by the OIG to see if there has been any form of illegal contact or communication between Svinicki and staff at the NRC. (Svinicki has a lifetime ban.)
We have learned there may be a second probe by the Office of Investigations at the NRC that is looking at outside alleged criminal conduct by Southern Company, including the false claims acts out of Mississippi that were unveiled in November.
Will Svinicki resign in 2024 from the Southern Company Board of Directors?
Finally, we understand through sources in the environmental movement, that allegedly an appeal has been filed by the Energy and Policy Institute to open and unseal David Roberson’s $75 million lawsuit against Drummond Company and Balch & Bingham.
The rebirth of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal may happen in 2024, as ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert still sits in federal prison. We will have a lot to write about in the forthcoming weeks and months.
Wishing you, our dear reader, good health and prosperity in 2024!
The first shoe has dropped! As we reported in May of 2019, Southern Company was under federal investigation in Mississippi.
An excerpt from four years ago:
Atlanta-based Southern Company disclosed it is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over a power plant that already has caused the company years of heartburn and billions of dollars.
Southern said it learned of the probe by the DOJ’s Civil Division on Monday and that it involved the Kemper County plant owned by the utility’s Mississippi Power subsidiary.
The trifecta of alleged criminal misconduct by Southern Company done in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi is starting to come into the public light.
Crosswhite
Southern Company allowed Alabama Power and then-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite to do whatever they pleased because the most profitable subsidiary was helping pay for the billion-dollar cost overruns at two boondoggles: the Kemper Plant in Mississippi and the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia.
Now the first of three major actions against Southern Company has begun.
The Associated Press reports:
A former employee is suing to force a Mississippi utility to repay $382 million that the federal government gave to build a failed coal-fueled power plant.
Kelli Williams, a former construction manager for Atlanta-based Southern Co., filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company and its subsidiary Mississippi Power Co. in2018. That lawsuit, unsealed Monday, alleges that the two firms defrauded the U.S. Department of Energy and state regulators in a failed quest to build a $7.5 billion power plant.
Williams says the company lied repeatedly about the plant’s cost overruns and spiraling delays, enticing the U.S. Department of Energy to keep delivering subsidy payments and persuading the Mississippi Public Service Commission to not revoke its permission for construction.
“If DOE had known that defendants were intentionally deceiving the agency about the state of the Kemper project and were intentionally withholding accurate data about the project’s progress and viability, DOE would have ceased funding and supporting it,” an amended complaint filed Monday alleges.
If Williams wins, the company could be forced to pay triple damages, or more than $1.1 billion.
It has taken five years to unseal the whistleblower lawsuit against Southern Company, but we are not surprised.
The Southern Company Criminal Enterprise is being held accountable, and the investigations currently underway are deep, massive in nature, and slowly coming together.
In Georgia, expect possible criminal charges and litigation against Southern Company regarding the other boondoggle: the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant.
In Alabama, look for potential RICO litigation, SEC fines, and criminal charges surrounding the years of illegal surveillance, harassment, and alleged corruption of the judicial branch by the Southern Company Criminal Enterprise.
Federal investigators are allegedly looking at obstruction of justice and accusations of criminal concealment.
In April of 2022, Federal Judge Abdul K. Kallon resigned and fled to Seattle.
The next day, two Assistant U.S. Attorneys allegedly left the Northern District of Alabama, followed by the shocking suicide of William “Bo” Lineberry, a Balch & Bingham partner who hanged himself.
Seasoned law enforcement authorities told us in 2022 that the Lineberry suicide spoke volumes about the depth and seriousness of the alleged federal probe.
When The Washington Post wrote an indepth article on the Balch & Bingham’s rental assistance debacle in Mississippi in September of 2021, we accurately called the embattled firm “government-made millionaires” that survived on contractual cronyism.
Balch & Bingham reaped millions while renters, many of whom were People of Color, received nothing, according to The Washinghon Post.
Now the Piglets of Pork look like they continue to survive on government contracts.
1819 reports:
Alabama’s Contract Review Committee held a meeting Thursday during which it approved a $600,000 increase in a legal contract for Balch & Bingham law firm to represent the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) in a Baldwin County bridge dispute.
Per the contract, which ends November 2024, Balch and Bingham will “provide [ALDOT with] representation and advice regarding possible and actual litigation in a dispute by the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) regarding the bridge and road project in Baldwin County.”
The new legal contract total is $1.4 million.
“This one is just the gift that keeps on giving. We’re now a new total of $1.4 million in legal on that one. It’s just frustrating,” State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) said at the committee meeting on Thursday.
Since 2018, Balch has lost in the aggregate as much as $100 million in revenue as clients and top money-making partners and attorneys have dumped and fled the embatted firm.
To survive, Balch appears to have become dependent on government contracts.
From the Pimps of Mississippi to the Welfare Queens of Alabama, Balch’s footprint appears to have become certified, premium piglets of pork.
But the news on Balch’s government dependency is not glamorous at all.
In Mississippi, Balch, has obtained 76 government contracts worth over $43 million since 2014, according to a state transparency website.
However those financial numbers have plummeted, too.
In 2020, Balch obtained over $12.2 million in Mississippi state contracts that included $2.1 million in consulting fees related to the rental assistance debacle.
In 2021, Balch was given $5.7 million in state government contracts in Mississippi when The Washington Post investigative report was published, rocking the Magnolia State.
Last year, in 2022, their reputation damaged while in the spotlight, Balch was only able to obtain a mere $1.6 million in Mississippi state contracts.
That equals less that a third of what they earned the year before and a mere13 percent of their 2020 contract numbers.
Contractual cronyism appears to be coming to a chilling close.
With its reputation in tatters, Balch & Bingham appears to be imploding from all directions and “the gift that keeps on giving” may come to an end as frustrated lawmakers see the light or hear the wrath, and toss Balch over the side of the toll bridge in Baldwin County.
The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been formally asked to investigate Kristine L. Svinicki, a Board Member of Southern Company and former NRC Chairman, for “any direct or indirect communication” between Svinicki and the NRC after she was appointed a member of Southern’s Board in October of 2021.
As Chairman of the NRC, Svinicki is restricted from contacting or communicating with the regulatory body under federal law, even if the communication was done through the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, which represents Southern Company before the NRC.
An employee or member of a federal regulatory agency who participated personally and substantially in a particular matter involving a specific party… may never appear before or communicate on behalf of another with any federal department, agency, or court regarding that same particular matter. This is a lifetime restriction.
For particular matters involving specific parties under the employee’s or agency member’s official responsibility during his/her last year of government service, the employee or member of a federal regulatory agency is restricted for two years after he/she leaves government service from appearing before and/or communicating on behalf of another with any federal department, agency, or court regarding those same particular matters.
Yesterday, Svinicki was elected member of the Board of Directors of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., the large utility holding company in Arizona, that operates three nuclear reactors. Unlike Southern, Pinnacle’s appointment comes more than two years after she left government service.
Guldner
Jeff Guldner, CEO of Pinnacle, stated, “Her vast experience in the nuclear energy industry and in government will be of great value to our company, not only from the perspective of our nuclear operations at the Palo Verde Generating Station, but also as we take advantage of opportunities in our evolving utility business.”
Will Svinicki announce her resignation from the Southern Company Board of Directors shortly?
King & Spalding was hired with a seven-figure retainer to look at the criminal RICO enterprise including the inappropriate relationship between disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and ousted Alabama CEO Mark A. Crosswhite who are accused of obstructing justice in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.
Now, sources claim that the deferred prosecution agreement that King & Spalding is allegedly seeking includes alleged criminal misconduct at the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant and alleged criminal findings by an FBI probe surrounding the Kemper Plant in Mississippi.
Both boondoggles have cost Southern Company billions in cost overruns and tarnished the utility’s reputation with gross mismanagement.
In May of 2019, Southern Company acknowledged there was an FBI probe of the Kemper Plant. The Atlanta-Journal-Constitution wrote at the time:
Boondoggle Kemper
Southern… reported in a quarterly filing that it could not determine the outcome of the investigation but that it ultimately might prove significant enough to materially affect the parent company’s financial disclosures to investors.
A Southern spokesman emailed The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday that, “As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment beyond what we provided in our filing.”
Sources claim that Southern Company is furiously conducting financial audits of both the Vogtle and Kempler cost overruns to complement the report by King & Spalding to be used to argue for a deferred prosecution agreement.
However, multiple victims of Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise have lodged formal criminal complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice and have asked to be consulted and advised before any deferred prosecution agreement is reached.
The collapse of embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, the sister-wife of Alabama Power, continues.
The Alabama Supreme Court has disbarred ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert based on his federal conviction in the North Birmingham Bribery Trial on six criminal charges including money laundering and bribery.
Last week, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) requested a certified copy of the indictment, petition/complaint, and disposition of the state case against ex-Balch partner Chase T. Espy for their Sex Offender Registry.
Espy pled guilty to federal charges of possession of kiddie porn in October. The state case involved the online solicitation of a child for sex.
Balch, an alleged racist law firm involved in tokenism, has tried to rehabilitate its image by hiring people of color. Unfortunately, some of them have left the embattled firm only months after being hired.
According to a recent review of Balch’s website, people of color account for less than 7 percent of their professionals and only 2 percent of their partners.
In the meanwhile, Managing Partner Stan Blanton is patting himself on the back with make-believe awards for “diversity and inclusion. “
The only diversity and inclusion the firm appears to have are prisoners, pimps, prostitutes, and pedophiles.
How much of Balch’s $27.8 million was obtained through cronyism and favoritism? Should there be a criminal forensic audit of Balch?
Walter H. Boone, a Balch & Bingham partner in Mississippi, obviously outraged, tweeted about the latest corruption scandal involving football great Brett Favre, the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and millions diverted from feeding hungry children to fund Favre’s pet project: a state-of-the-art volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, where Favre’s daughter studies and plays…volleyball.
The “scheme to defraud the government” has rocked Mississippi and angered decent and professional people like Boone.
Texter Favre
Mississippi Todaybroke the story about texts between then-Governor Phil Bryant and Favre in the scheme that diverted and allegedly laundered millions for welfare nutritional program resources to a not-for-profit entity called the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC). MCEC then funneled the money illegally to pet projects, like Favre’s Volleyball Stadium.
The DiBiase Wrestling family is also engulfed in the scandal. Ted DiBiase, Sr. was known as “The Million Dollar Man” in his wrestling days
Last May, news outlets reported:
Ted DiBiase and his sons Ted Jr. and Brett DiBiase have been sued by the state of Mississippi as the state seeks to reclaim $24 million dollars of misused federal funds meant for welfare.
The lawsuit alleges that Nancy New and her son Zack New used their nonprofit [MCEC] to illegally funnel ‘tens of millions’ of dollars into other nonprofits. John Davis, who was then the director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, befriended Ted DiBiase Jr. and elevated him within the department to receive payment from two of the New nonprofits totaling over $3 million dollars in anti-poverty funds.
The funds were meant to “address the multiple needs of inner-city youth” despite DiBiase Jr. possessing no qualifications to provide those services in relation to the federal grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF.
Ted DiBiase Jr., the lawsuit alleges, later urged Davis to divert $1.7 million to Ted DiBiase Sr.’s ministry called Heart of David. However, DiBiase allegedly used some of the money for his own personal expenses.
The lawsuit lists Ted DiBiase Sr. owing $1,971,223, Ted DiBiase Jr. $2,897,487, and Brett DiBiase $824,258.
Although Balch’s Boone appears to be outraged, the reality appears to be the House of Balch is divided.
Working down the hall from Boone is Balch partner Lucien Smith, who was Governor Bryant’s former Chief of Staff and served as the Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party until he was ousted by current Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves.
Bryant was seen as a Balch stooge at the time he served as Governor.
Balch, which evicts renters and represents landlords, got a $3.8 millionno-bid contract to run Mississippi’s rental assistance program while handing out 11 percent of the resources at hand. Balch partner Chris Wadell appears to have helped obtain the no-bid contract, serving as counsel to the agency that handed out the contract.
What a joke, we said at the time.
“The Pimps of Mississippi” had no business running a program to help people of color and the poor. Now the final numbers are in, and the inefficiency is real. The U.S. Department of Treasury reports that the State of Mississippi dispersed only 76 percent of the nearly $187 million allocation. Independent of Balch, Harrison County, Mississippi by comparison dispersed 98 percent of their resources.
Balch partner Boone has a right to be outraged at Favre for allegedly taking advantage of resources for poor, hungry children.
But Boone should also be outraged at his own firm, which targeted poor African American children in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. He should be outraged that his firm refuses to apologize for former partner Joel I. Gilbert’s criminal misconduct. He should be outraged that Balch lost tens of millions in fees to win a $242,000 judgment in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. He should be outraged at the alleged criminal and unethical misconduct surrounding Balch and its sister-wife Alabama Power.
In the meantime, Favre should repay the State of Mississippi and make a heartfelt apology to the residents of the Magnolia State.
We simply cannot believe that BanBalch.com is five-years old as of last Friday.
A half-decade later, our website is a success because of you, our dear readers, and the incompetent and foolish leadership at Balch & Bingham and Alabama Power which arrogantly dismissed the need for an examination of conscience, apologies, and internal reform.
Although this site started with the Newsome Conspriracy Case, (and was quite plain and boring), Balch’s self-inflicted wounds mushroomed our reporting and advocacy.
Hit head-on: September 11, 2020
Five years later, Burt Newsome is more successful as an attorney, and highly respected for fighting for his livelihood while protecting his family from the alleged criminal and egregious misconduct of his unknown enemies. Even though he suffered a broken leg and grave injuries in a highly unusual head-on collision, “Iron-man” Newsome came back stronger than ever.
People have had enough of the bullying and lopsided favoritism by powerful interests in Alabama.
While the Newsome Conspiracy Case and Roberson Civil Case are sealed and hidden in secretive Star Chambers, eventually federal RICO suits could be filed that will open the pandora’s box.
More importantly is the alleged ongoing federal probe of Alabama Power, Balch & Bingham, the Matrix Meltdown, and others, allegedly over the obstruction of justice.
Sources tell us that the probe could branch into the alleged cover-up of former Balch attorney and accused pedophile Chase T. Espy, the alleged Elderly Abuse Scandal, and/or the Mississippi Rental Assistance Debacle.
And disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town’s alleged misconduct in the North Birmingham Bribery Trial and Newsome Conspiracy Case may have spurred the probe.
We, the CDLU, will continue to write, advocate, and reach out to law enforcement, congressional investigators, federal regulators, and investigative journalists.
The latest available data from the U.S. Department of Treasury shows that contractual cronyism appears to be inefficient while making Balch & Bingham generous fees.
At the end of November, Balch, the “Pimps of Mississippi,” had disbursed a mere 43 percent of the$186 million cash cow, not even the half-way mark!
The embattled firm looks like fools when compared to Harrison County, which disbursed all of their resources to those in need, 100 percent, according to the federal data.
As The Washington Post reported in August:
Balch and [the Mississippi Home Corporation] agreed to a $3.8 million budget for the firm to help administer the program, including a charge of $135-per-hour for the review of 30,000 applications, according to a March letter from Balch to MHC. In addition to the review of applications,Balch’s role in therental relief program was meant to include helping draft rules and regulations, “designing and overseeing program administration,” and training staff, according to the letter.
A year ago, the embattled law firm launched to great fanfare a free “boost” program to allegedly help minority-owned and women-owned small businesses.
No one believed Balch and the legal community laughed heartedly since Balch reserved the right to discriminate. Observers viewed the act as a publicity stunt, fluff.
A year later, an African-American attorney left Balch after only eight months on the job. Last week, Balch’s top female partner dumped the firm after 15 years.
Balch cannot even boost their own law firm.
Static cling?
The hypocrisy is taking its toll.
Balch’s tied-to-the-hip, siamese twin and sister-wife Alabama Power appears to be feeling the heavy burden as well. Former Balch partner and current Alabama Power CEO and Chairman Mark A. Crosswhite was pictured recently in a public relations announcement about a solar energy accord with Mercedes-Benz.
Crosswhite, who didn’t even crack a smile in any of the photos, appeared uncomfortable, out of sorts, and looked liked he was preoccupied with other matters. Crosswhite was a little disheveled with a wrinkled shirt that made the “most powerful man in Alabama” look like a country-boy from Morgan County.
Regardless of the wrinkled shirt, what an ugly year for Balch and 2022 may be no better. Will Alabama Power finally cut the ropes as a New Year’s resolution?
This is our last post of 2021. Wishing you, our dear readers, a MerryChristmas and all the best in 2022. We plan to return during the week of January 10th.
Demonstrating that contractual cronyism appears to harm the public, Balch & Bingham, the Pimps of Mississippi, who received a multi-million dollar, no-bid contract to help disburse $186 million in rental assistance has only disbursed 32 percent according to new data published by the U.S. Department of Treasury.
In comparison, Harrison County in Mississippi has disbursed 98 percentof all resources as of October 31, 2021.
A national investigative report in The Washington Postin September showed that the embattled law firm had reaped millions in fees from the State of Mississippi while hardly disbursing resources to tenants in need, many who are people of color.
The data from Treasury shows that Balch has foot-dragged dispursements and a forensic audit would be appropriate at this time.
Balch partners Christian Waddell and Lucien Smith successfully obtained a million-dollar, no-bid contract for the alleged racist law firm.
Government-made millionaires Balch & Bingham, are still under fire after a national investigative report in The Washington Postin September showed that the embattled law firm had reaped millions in fees from the State of Mississippi while hardly disbursing resources to tenants in need.
According to the Post, a mere 11 percent of a $186 million rental assistance fund was disbursed to those in need, while a similar program in Harrison County, Mississippi, run by housing advocates, had the opposite results: disbursement was at 89 percent.
Now new data from the U.S. Department of Treasury shows that Balch stooges in Jackson have disbursed only 17% of rental assistance funds as of September 30. Harrison County is now up to 91 percent.
Called “The Pimps of Mississippi,” Balch, the evictor and collector, received millions in contractual cronyism to allegedly distribute federal rental assistance funds and to manage another federal program to prevent foreclosures, according to the Post.
Balch partners Christian B. Waddell and Lucien Smith appear to have secured the lucrative no-bid contract through what we believe is contractual cronyism.
At the end of September, the U.S. Department of Treasury had the right to recapture funds if less than 65 percent of the resources had been spent.
Balch may indeed be fighting the recapture and justifying what appears to be an incompetent, inefficient system to disburse to those in need. Many of the tenants in need happen to be people of color.
During the height of the Pandemic, Balch inhumanely evicted an alleged senior citizen from a Habitat for Humanity home, violating the spirit of the public charity and a federal moratorium.
Time to dig, dig deep into Waddell who boasts on Balch’s website of all the millions in procurements he has secured and his involvement in underwriting almost $1 Billion in bonds.
Contractual cronyism was not the intent of the federal rental assistance program. Helping those in need was.
The OIG and federal investigators have not forgotten regardless of what gobbledygook Balch spits out.
Could Balch’s Mississippi Rental Assistance Debacle get any uglier?
In September of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and months away from the FDA approval of the first vaccine, Balch & Bingham attorneys in Mississippi evicted a resident from a Habitat for Humanity home.
Even though a federal eviction moratorium was in place, Balch attorneys apparently tossed the alleged senior citizen out of the home!
Mississippi residents in need received practically nothing in assistance. The government-made millionaires at Balch had only distributed a mere 11 percent of $186 million in federal assistance, according to the Post.
We, the CDLU, have reviewed court cases in the 82 counties of Mississippi since the start of the pandemic in March of 2020 and the results against Balch & Bingham appear to be painfully damaging and embarrassing. The findings are being provided to multiple federal and congressional investigators.
In June of 2020, as most Americans were locked down in their homes, Balch dispatched a letter to the resident of a home in Mississippi demanding that he vacate and notifying him that he would be evicted.
The man, according to court records, took possession of the home in January of 2020. However, he never signed a lease/purchase agreement. Six months later, at the height of the lock down, Balch began eviction proceedings.
In September of 2020, Balch filed for and obtained a warrant against the alleged senior citizen even though a federal moratorium was in place.
Like most readers and investigators who have seen the hard evidence, we are in utter disbelief.
The embattled law firm has been involved in so many alleged unsavory and criminal schemes, there are no words to describe this latest revolting act.
Per the contract, which ends November 2024, Balch and Bingham will “provide [ALDOT with] representation and advice regarding possible and actual litigation in a dispute by the Baldwin County Bridge Company (BCBC) regarding the bridge and road project in Baldwin County.”
The lawsuit alleges that Nancy New and her son Zack New used their nonprofit [MCEC] to illegally funnel ‘tens of millions’ of dollars into other nonprofits. John Davis, who was then the director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, befriended Ted DiBiase Jr. and elevated him within the department to receive payment from two of the New nonprofits totaling over $3 million dollars in anti-poverty funds.
