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Mueller, the Russians, and Balch
Now is the time for Mueller and his G-Men to go deep into the intricate ownership, corporate structure, financial records, and wire transfers of Black Hall Aerospace. With the federal indictment today of Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates, K Street is shaking as two lobbying firms, The Podesta Group and Mercury, were hired in an alleged criminal scheme to influence Capitol Hill on behalf of the government of the Ukraine. The two lobbying firms allegedly pocketed $2 million in fees. Allegedly laundering $12,000,000 and not registering as foreign agents, Manafort and Gates are not the only ones facing…
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Influence Peddling in DC
Why exactly did Balch & Bingham retain, as reported by The American Lawyer, “W. Warren Hamel, chair of Venable’s investigations and white-collar defense group in Baltimore, to represent it in the government’s corruption probe?” As we wrote at the end of August when the corrupt Star Chamber was formed, sources told us legal representatives of a Balch partner were “allegedly vigorously trying to prevent any indictment or prosecution through direct channels in Washington, D.C.” Two indictments later, that effort obviously failed. According to the The American Lawyer, W. Warren Hammel served as “chief of the environmental crimes and enforcement office…
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Equal Protection Under the Law
We have some good news today. With the alleged suppression of poor African-Americans in North Birmingham and the creation of a secretive and corrupt Star Chamber to allegedly hide perjury and possible criminal acts in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, Balch & Bingham partners need to be investigated and brought to justice for the alleged trampling of Civil Rights. Civil Rights violations have a long history in Alabama and in 2017 the irony is that two African-Americans were allegedly used as tools to do the dirty work: Oliver Robinson and Judge Carole Smitherman. Burt Newsome was falsely arrested. The night before…
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AT&T Letter: Perjury or Intentional Obstruction of Justice?
The Newsome Conspiracy Case highlights what appears to be unethical, maybe even criminal behavior. The letter sent to AT&T in early 2016 appears to have been sent to prevent phone records from being released to Newsome’s legal team. The claims in the letter justifying the withholding of information are knowingly 100% false: there was no objection filed at the time and no valid court order was needed to release the information. Perjury? Some think so. We think it appears to be an intentional obstruction of justice. Balch & Bingham leaders need to pull their heads out of the sand and…
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Damn Lies, Crimes, and Perjury
Two important questions: Why did Judge Carole Smitherman seal the entire Newsome Conspiracy Case five weeks ago without a hearing? Why are all proceedings now done in secret in a Star Chamber in Birmingham with no public access or public schedule available? We strongly believe Smitherman may be covering up alleged criminal acts and perjury. She appears to have been duped by Balch & Bingham and the alleged co-conspirators. Balch stated in court that a single phone number connecting all the Newsome co-conspirators was at first from a telemarketer. After we publicly ripped their foolishness (to the delight of the wine drinking,…
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Another Russian-linked Website Scrub
Are federal investigators finally scrutinizing Balch’s client Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc., the Russian-linked aerospace company tied to Soviet immigrant Oleg Sirbu? In February, when the CDLU met with Sirbu’s attorneys Benjamin Coulter and Victor Hayslip, we were baffled why Sirbu had not gone to criminal investigators at the FBI. Allegedly U.S. management had stolen corporate assets and wrongfully spent corporate resources on personal items, including a home, an airplane, and a coffee bar. That looked like embezzlement to us. The response had that unusually moment of silence and then a pivot to a discussion about the…
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Balch Must Dismantle Corrupt Star Chamber
Vowing to make sure all partners and staff “are adhering to the highest standards of legal and ethical compliance,” Balch & Bingham leaders now need to engage in critical and concrete steps to show that their words are not fluff, public relations hot air. First and foremost, Balch leaders need to dismantle the unethical, corrupt, and embarrassing Star Chamber, a court conducting secret proceedings with no public information or access available in regards to the Newsome Conspiracy Case. The Star Chamber was created to allegedly cover up what appears to be unethical, possibly criminal acts, including perjury. It’s a dirty…
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Will Carole Smitherman be the next Oliver Robinson?
Why was Balch & Bingham so confident in comments not made under oath or in a deposition that was yet to take place in which Verizon had not even been subpoenaed about? [Since no information is available on the Newsome Conspiracy Case since August 31st because Judge Smitherman created a corrupt Star Chamber, we are re-publishing this post from Monday, August 14, 2017. The post is even more relevant today.] With former and disgraced Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson facing prison time for a $360,000 bribery scheme involving the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, will Judge Carole Smitherman be…
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More Indictments? Balch leaders and FBI need to Investigate
The parallel similarities between the Robinson Bribery Case and Newsome Conspiracy Case are striking: the use (or abuse) of an African-American elected official, money funneled through a third party entity, contributions made, etc. Although we are pleased that in a statement the leadership at Balch & Bingham vows to make sure partners are “adhering to the highest standards of legal and ethical compliance” throughout the firm, we feel the leaders also need to look at other unsavory conduct from the recent past unbecoming of a 95 year-old law firm. Since early this year, we have asked Balch to conduct a…
