Sources close to Southern Company have anonymously reached out to us describing the troubling turmoil that has beset the unholy alliance of Balch & Bingham, Matrix, LLC, and Alabama Power.

In the past two weeks, the alliance appears to be imploding, and leaks from the C-Suite on down are providing a flood of stunning information and alarming activity.

Shortly after King & Spalding was hired last year to probe the spying on and surveillance of Southern Company Chairman and CEO Tom Fanning and his then-girlfriend in 2017, Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite had a heated exchange at a high-level meeting with “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the founder of Matrix, LLC and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama Politics.

According to anonymous sources, Crosswhite allegedly demanded that Perkins come clean and tell King & Spalding the truth about the Fanning surveillance and other alleged criminal acts last fall.

Crosswhite allegedly was done with the diminutive consultant. But Perkins, who allegedly has dirt and an embarrassing dossier on every member of the executive team, barked at Crosswhite, telling him to “pack your bags!”

Perkins appears to have orchestrated Crosswhite’s ouster and preserved his million-dollar consulting contracts by allegedly aligning closely to Jeff Peoples, and allegedly spearheading a campaign of support for Peoples by heavy-hitters from the Alabama political and business community, before Peoples was announced as Crosswhite’s stopgap replacement.

Those heavy-hitters allegedly called Fanning and Southern Company board members persuading them to appoint Peoples as CEO of Alabama Power.

Before his appointment, Peoples allegedly approved supplemental work orders for Perkins that allegedly covered up nefarious misconduct including the targeting of Burt Newsome and his family. Peoples had served as Executive Vice President of Customer and Employee Services at Alabama Power prior to becoming CEO.

Peoples is seen as a loyal stooge for “Sloppy Joe” Perkins by Alabama Power insiders.

Perkins, who recently has been strutting around like a miniature horse at Alabama Power headquarters, appears to feel he is untouchable and the shadow president of Alabama Power.

Last fall, Jim Kerr, the Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel at Southern Company, and the King & Spalding investigative team recommended that Crosswhite immediately cancel both contracts with Perkins and his affiliated entities worth over $2.2 million a year.

Anonymous insiders tell us that Perkins, whose bruised ego appears to generate out-of-control behavior, is allegedly trying to retaliate against Kerr, who was promoted to Chairman and CEO of Southern Company Gas to take effect the end of this month.

Now anonymous sources claim that Crosswhite is cooperating with federal investigators, outlining all the immoral, unsavory, and criminal acts associated with Perkins and his entities in return for a full immunity deal.

Recent documents leaked to media appear to show that Perkins is an alleged habitual and prolific liar, especially his denial that he was not involved with the surveillance of Fanning.

Hand-written notes appear to contradict Perkins.

Crosswhite could testify about Perkins direct involvement and also testify to the alleged head-on car accident that nearly killed Burt Newsome.

Newsome infuriated Alabama Power when he took on the rebirth of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal case, ex-Drummond executive David Roberson’s $75 million civil lawsuit against Balch & Bingham and Drummond Company.

Crosswhite, eight years as Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power, knows where the decomposing corpses are buried.

In addition to Crosswhite’s cooperation, Alabama Power insiders believe Peoples’ history of allegedly creating a hostile work environment for African Americans and women, alleged inappropriate relationships with Southern Company employees, and alleged misappropriated expenditures on party pads, will soon begin leaking out with documented evidence, thereby, forcing Perkins and his hand-picked stooge Peoples out onto the curb, like a miniature horse and his cowboy.

Southern Company’s licenses and authority to operate nuclear power plants are in grave jeopardy.

Multiple RICO victims have filed complaints with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revoke and/or postpone the issuance of licenses, and are calling for formal NRC hearings on the fitness of Southern Company to operate these facilities.

Sources tell us that Southern Company failed to inform the NRC that they had hired King & Spalding to conduct an internal probe of misconduct related to the criminal enterprise.

The move will undoubtedly postpone the launch of reactors 3 and 4 at the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia, now six years late and at least $16 billion over budget.

DonaldWatkins.com dropped the bomb and broke the news late Friday on just one of multiple complaints lodged against Southern:

Over the past two decades, the Southern Company, Alabama Power Company, and Georgia Power Company paid Matrix, LLC, and Joe Perkins (Matrix’s owner) tens of millions of dollars to act as their special breed of well-fed, zealously protected, vicious, Pit bulls. From time to time, these electric utility companies would let Matrix and Perkins out of their kennels and direct them to maul critics, political adversaries, and anybody else who posed a real or perceived threat to their (a) monopoly in electrical power generation and (b) longtime suppression of effective regulatory oversight.

An example of this proverbial Pit bull mauling is described in Joe Perkins’ 13-pages handwritten notes of his plan to maul me to death. The notes speak for themselves.

I survived the mauling by Matrix, Perkins, and those who acted in concert with them.

My son and I were not the only victims of the Southern Company’s reign of terror. I have spoken to other victims of the racketeering scheme operated by the Southern Company, Alabama Power Company, Georgia Power Company, Matrix, Perkins, and those entities and persons who acted in concert with them over the years.

[W]e filed a formal complaint with Mr. Christopher T. Hanson, Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in which we challenged the fitness of the Southern Company and its affiliates to hold a license to own and operate Vogtle Nuclear Power Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 in Waynesboro, Georgia.

Southern Company, acting by and through Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., and Georgia Power Company, is involved in the ownership structure and operational control of Vogtle. Southern Nuclear is the designated “Operator” of Vogtle, while Georgia Power owns a 45.7% equity stake in this facility.

In recent months, the Southern Company has been seeking a non-prosecution agreement from the Department of Justice on behalf of itself, Alabama Power, and Georgia Power. All three companies are directly implicated in our Criminal RICO Complaint as culpable parties in the Southern Company’s longtime, multi-state, racketeering enterprise. All three companies used Matrix and Perkins to maul innocent victims during their ongoing racketeering scheme.

It does not appear that the Southern Company, or Southern Nuclear, or Georgia Power has disclosed this critical licensure-related information to the NRC while they await final regulatory approval to bring Vogtle Nuclear Power Units 3 and 4 online this year.

During the height of the criminal trial, Jay Town’s office filed a sealed subpoena demanding to know who was making counter arguments and critical comments about the prosecution and trial on the AL.com website.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we expose the appalling lengths to which Southern Company stooges went to go after and destroy an African American leader and his supporters.

Southern Company’s criminal enterprise not only greased and corrupted the judicial branch in Alabama to protect their wholly owned subsidiaries, but also corrupted the executive branch and law enforcement to silence critics and the media.

From the Newsome Conspiracy Case to the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, obstruction of justice not only occurred in the court system, but some acts were sadly done by law enforcement officials.

The CDLU has anonymously received a bombshell: a sealed court document from the crimimal case against African American businessman and attorney Donald V. Watkins.

And the document is utterly devastating and demonstrates that the office of disgraced and now ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town was indeed in Southern Company/Alabama Power’s pocket.

Town was confirmed as U.S. Attorney in August of 2017.

In October 2017, Town’s office opened a new federal criminal investigation into the same business transactions between Watkins and a handful of investors in his waste-to-energy business that had been probed by federal prosecutors in New Jersey from July 2015 to February 2016. These prosecutors cleared Watkins on all allegations of wrongdoing.

The move came at the same month as Southern Company’s $2 million-a-year consultant “Sloppy Joe” Perkins hand-wrote a detailed outline of an orchestrated smear campaign against Watkins.

[Sloppy Joe’s secret, hand-written notes from October of 2017 were published four years later in September of 2021 causing a firestorm.]

Perkins’ notes, at page 3, specifically referenced his knowledge of “federal subpoenas” involving Watkins. At the time, the only federal subpoenas involving Watkins were those issued by Town’s newly empaneled grand jury.

Watkins did not become aware of any federal grand jury proceedings or subpoenas issued by Town until February of 2018.

Why would Sloppy Joe know about subpoenas coming out of the secret proceedings of a federal grand jury?

Why, one would ask, was Sloppy Joe in the know?

We believe Southern Company’s criminal enterprise took immediate action against Watkins after he published critical stories about Perkins and his firm Matrix in September of 2017.

Watkins accused Perkins of allegedly targeting the family of a rape victim, Meagan Rondini, who committed suicide after law enforcement and others allegedly dismissed or ignored her accusations against the son of a prominent family in Alabama.

Eventually, Watkins was indicted and the criminal case went to trial in early 2019.

But the sealed documents from the Watkins case that we received are alarming to First Amendment rights and privacy.

During the height of the criminal trial, Jay Town’s office filed a sealed subpoena demanding to know who was making counter arguments and critical comments about the prosecution and trial on the AL.com website comments area.

TheTruthHurts48 burned up Town and his team. 🔥

Ripping up First Amendment rights and like mobsters wanting to break one’s legs, Town’s office filed the subpoena on February 25, 2019. Three days later, Alabama Media Group, owners of AL.com, filed a motion to quash. The issue, according to court records, was resolved shortly thereafter but details are unknown.

Because of guaranteed freedom of speech and freedom of the press rights, U.S. Department of Justice guidelines are clear that there are mandatory consultation requirements and Jay Town and his office should have obtained authorization at least 30 days before issuing a subpoena to a media outlet like Alabama Media Group.

We doubt Town’s office did. Town was too busy sipping cocktails🍹with Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, who resigned in disgrace this past November.

We received the anonymously sent, sealed court documents last spring. As whistleblowers, we have forwarded the documents to the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Recently we learned who TheTruthHurts48 is, and the person told us that they attended the Watkins trial everyday and believe the trial was an absolute miscarriage of justice.

TheTruthHurts48, who works remotely, used an IP address and VPN associated with their employer. After the trial, the person was unexpectedly fired by their employer for no reason. They believe Jay Town caused the abrupt termination.

Exactly one year after Jay Town’s office filed that subpoena, on February 25, 2020, Alabama Media Group published an “End of an Era” story and announced, “Beginning Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 at 5 a.m. CST, we’ll eliminate website comments…”

Newsome won’t take it on the chin, not for himself or his clients.

Eight years ago embattled law firm Balch & Bingham declared in a pleading in the Newsome Conspiracy Case that they had the legal right to “ruin a rival.”

Instead, Balch ruined themselves losing tens of millions in legal fees, 18 of 18 major lobbying clients, and dozens of seasoned and legacy partners.

Now that disgraced ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite was ousted, the once-prestigious, now-egregious law firm has been exposed as part of a criminal enterprise funded by the deep pockets of Southern Company and will be part of a highly anticipated civil RICO lawsuit.

So toxic Balch has become, the Jefferson County Commission terminated the firm last month, according to Politico.com, joining the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department that terminated Balch in 2019.

And this week, apparently unable to attract experienced partners from other firms or retain new attorneys, Balch announced the promotion to partner of junior ghost-writer extraordinaire, and spy-vs-spy man Irving Jones, Jr. , a central figure of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

Jones infiltrated meetings of the public charity and environmental group GASP and helped ghost-write “dumbed-down” letters for convicted felon and ex-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert to be signed by African American residents in the AstroTurf campaign to block EPA testing in North Birmingham, according to court testimony in 2018.

Jones had left Balch but returned in 2018. So embarrassed by the rehire, Balch took three weeks to acknowledge that Jones had returned. Jones’ return happened a little over two months after Gilbert’s conviction.

Meanwhile, Burt Newsome, who was viciously targeted by the criminal enterprise and nearly murdered assassinated killed in a mysterious head-on collision in 2020, won a precedent-setting opinion in the 11th Circuit yesterday.

The 11th Circuit three-judge panel unanimously reversed a lower court ruling in Mortgage Corporation vs.Bozeman ( 21-10987).

Law 360 reports: 

An Alabama U.S. district court ruling that dissolved the mortgage lien on a bankrupt debtor’s home ran afoul of federal law, the Eleventh Circuit said in a precedent-setting opinion that reaffirms the right of secured creditors to full recovery of mortgage loans.

With outstanding professionalism and legal brilliance, and adding to his enormous victory for a Mexican farmer in May, Newsome has vigorously defended the rights of his clients with tenacity.

The 11th Circuit decision, highly applauded in banking circles, should open more doors for Newsome.

The late Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., General Counsel at Balch & Bingham, vowed to fight Newsome to the death.

Sadly, Baker died in 2020.

Balch and the criminal enterprise stupidy wasted millions and lost tens of millions in fees to win a slam-dunk and corrupt judgment of $242,000 against Newsome.

Now the judgment and counterfeit order used to trample Newsome will play a leading role in the Civil RICO lawsuit against Balch, Southern Company, Matrix, and others.

Newsome won’t take it on the chin, not for himself or his clients.

Newsome’s determination for justice has not been hindered, not even by a criminal enterprise or a near-death, head-on car wreck.

And we, the CDLU, along with the public in general, energetically applaud Newsome’s perseverance.

Go, Burt, go!

King & Spalding is heavily looking at the corruption involving disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.

As Southern Company ousted Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite in late November, the utility hired King & Spalding to conduct a deep, internal criminal probe of the “massive corruption” surrounding the known and reported misconduct by Alabama Power, Matrix, and embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, the CDLU has exclusively learned.

Paul B. Murphy, (above, left) a former Chief of Staff at the FBI, leads the investigation while David L. Balser, (above, right) who handles the “most sensitive, complex, and enterprise-threatening matters” at King & Spalding, is assisting.

To keep potential bias out of the investigation, Southern Company Chairman and CEO Tom Fanning is not involved with the independent investigation since he was a victim of the alleged misconduct.

Like a Peeping Tom, Crosswhite authorized the surveillance of Fanning and his then-girlfriend apparently to obtain photographic evidence that Fanning was in a bisexual tryst.

The criminal investigation comes as Southern Company faces potential civil RICO lawsuits for the criminal enterprise that targeted perceived enemies, and innocent parties, including terrorizing children as young as six years of age, whose parents were enemies of friends or acquaintances of Alabama Power executives.

Authorized by Crosswhite, Alabama Power paid over $2 million a year to Matrix, LLC, and its founder “Sloppy Joe” Perkins which engaged in nefarious misconduct.

No invoicing was required thereby increasing third-party risk and financial liability to Southern Company.

Perkins was in a nasty lawsuit with his former protégé “Jittery Jeff” Pitts that exposed a web of misconduct including the laundering of $50 million through 18 tax-exempt entities.

Internal documents, financial records, and contracts were delivered anonymously to media outlets, journalists, and us, the CDLU confirming and documenting Southern Company’s criminal enterprise.

The utility also spent millions in fees to embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, which appears to have used its web of political connections and stooges in the judicial branch to assist and protect Alabama Power with slam-dunk decisions, orders, and verdicts.

Sources tell us that King & Spalding is heavily looking at the corruption involving disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.

King & Spalding is looking at Crosswhite’s inappropriate contact and relationship with Town that prevented a broader investigation after the North Birmingham convictions in 2018, and protected Alabama Power operatives from being indicted.

Beyond probing how Alabama Power was “unmentionable” and protected during the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, invesigators are scrutinizing a half-baked deposition using an actor during the Newsome Conspiracy Case that was orchestrated by Alabama Power’s criminal enterprise and Town.

The actor impersonated Verizon employee Jason Forman.

As we wrote in 2020, unless he grew five inches in height, gained 150 pounds, suffered dramatic hair loss, and saw his skull double in size, the telephony expert in the Balch’s half-baked deposition in 2017 during the height of the Newsome Conspiracy Case was an actor, a fake, an imposter.

Town resigned and fled in the middle of the night in 2020, but an alleged ongoing U.S. Department of Justice probe of obstruction of justice appears to have forced Federal Judge Abdul K. Kallon, who presided over the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, to resign last April, while two Assistant U.S. Attorneys allegedly submitted their resignations a day later.

King & Spalding is conducting the investigation to rid Southern Company of any and all accomplices.

Plausible deniability simply won’t work. Just ask Peeping Crosswhite who denied involvement in August but was ousted three months later.

2023 marks the deep cleaning of Southern Company’s septic tank and sources tell us that heads will roll.

What else can we say?

Happy New Year! 🥳