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Farce and Fiction? U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town Entangled in Half-Baked Deposition
And Balch & Bingham almost got away with it. Hitting the panic button after Newsome’s legal team linked all the co-conspirators to a single wireless phone number in 2017, Balch & Bingham and their stooges put into a play what many believe was a phony, staged deposition in July of 2017 allegedly with Verizon’s top experts. Balch attempted to take a Verizon burner cell phone and magically turn it into a “router switch.” And the embattled law firm appears to have used all their political and legal connections to prevent Newsome from showing Balch and the co-conspirators had allegedly perjured…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town’s Alleged Dirty Work for Balch Exposed
In Alabama, there is no such thing as a coincidence. As observers we cannot believe the sheer stupidity of operatives who work for or are associated with the alleged unsavory conduct of Balch & Bingham or Balch’s sister-wife Alabama Power. Some of these goons think they are above the law, never to be caught or reprimanded. And the explosive, jaw-dropping photographs of U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town chugging down drinks with Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch partner, confirms a dubious relationship and affirms the belief that Town’s integrity is lacking. Now Balch’s alleged Tour…
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Blue Origin: Balch & Bingham’s Biggest Loss
[This post was published a year ago on February 7, 2019. Now with $25.2 billion budgeted for NASA and a piece of the pie being allocated to Blue Origin, Balch & Bingham’s Birmingham baggage appears to have truly caused a horrific loss.] The headlines in late January were a kick in the stomach: Blue Origin broke ground on a $200 million facility to build rockets in Huntsville, Alabama. Once a top Balch & Bingham D.C. lobbying client, Blue Origin bailed on Balch & Bingham in 2017 days after the indictment was handed down against then-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert. We…
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Balch & Bingham’s Atlanta Office Could Join Mega-Merger: Troutman Pepper
They hurt. They really hurt. The embarrassing and compromising photos of Balch & Bingham’s former partner and now CEO of sister-wife Alabama Power Mark A. Crosswhite apparently paying for drinks with Birmingham’s U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town has rocked the establishment in Birmingham. Making a mockery of the legal system and affirming the feeling of blatant corruption behind closed doors, the photos illustrate why numerous, high-caliber, money-making partners with spectacular reputations have left the embattled law firm, including legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr. In recent days, Balch & Bingham has tried pathetically to put a happy face on all…
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Town and Crosswhite Mocked and Humiliated
Members of the U.S. Department of Justice are in disbelief. U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, we are told, is rattled and in disbelief. The photos are beyond humiliating! Mocked inside the Beltway, Mountain Brook, and on Goat Hill, now comes the satirical cartoon showing how corruption is about to swallow Town and Crosswhite. And the satire does raise two serious questions: Why was Alabama Power allegedly shielded and “unmentionable” during the North Birmingham corruption trial? Why was Jeffrey Bowers, the cop son of Alabama Power retired executive Willard L. Bowers, never investigated for the alleged abuse of the color of…
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Secret Deal? Alabama Power was “Unmentionable” During Corruption Trial
The fallout over the jaw-dropping photos of Mark Crosswhite’s meeting with U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town has shattered the glass house and loosened tight lips. We learned yesterday about the alleged secret deal between Alabama Power and Town: During the criminal trial of Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert and Drummond executive David Roberson in July of 2018, criminal defense attorneys were allegedly instructed not to mention Alabama Power or their ties to the money laundering entity Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) without first clearing it with Alabama Power’s criminal attorney. The secret deal is an absolute…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Jaw-Dropping Photos: Mark A. Crosswhite’s Meeting with U.S. Attorney Rocks Alabama Power
Stuffed in an unmarked, unlabeled manila envelope, several 8 X 10 photos appear to confirm what ex-Drummond Company Executive and “fall guy” David Roberson has repeatedly declared: Before Roberson was indicted, his friend Mike Cole had told Roberson that Cole and Alabama Power’s CEO Mark A. Crosswhite had a meeting with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay E. Town. Crosswhite was attempting to allegedly quash the prosecution of anyone who had been accused of bribing disgraced politician Oliver Robinson. Town allegedly replied that he was confirmed too late to kill the North Birmingham Bribery prosecution and…
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Ruining a Rival becomes Ruining Themselves
[This post originally appeared on January 15, 2018. With the recent departure of Balch & Bingham’s first-ever Chief Compliance Officer Steve Feaga, and legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr. and three other money-making partners, this post has become even more relevant.] As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we remember the struggles for equality in the decade of the 1960s. We also recall the Alabama Supreme Court decision from 1961 which Balch & Bingham used to justify their unconscionable interference in Burt Newsome’s livelihood. In their 2016 amended motion for summary judgment, Balch wrote that the “Alabama Supreme…
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Shock: Balch’s First-Ever Chief Compliance Officer Out
Stephen P. Feaga, a pillar of integrity who had served the Deputy Director of Enforcement and Litigation at the Alabama Securities Commission before joining Balch & Bingham in 2018, has left the embattled firm. He was Balch’s first-ever Chief Compliance Officer. Some may ask: If a law firm refuses to comply with “the highest ethical standards” and “best business practices,” what good is a chief compliance officer? Although extremely disappointed that Feaga, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, was mostly silent these past two years, we believe his hiring by Balch was nothing more than window dressing. Last year, revelations and…
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Crippling Blow: Vogtle and Three Seasoned Partners Leave Balch & Bingham
A crippling blow: Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr., the long-time Balch & Bingham partner, and three of his fellow partners have left the embattled firm, according to a report this late afternoon in the Birmingham Business Journal. Vogtle symbolized the longtime relationship between Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham. Vogtle was at Balch for over 31 years and has now joined Nashville-based Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP along with his colleagues Randolph H. Lanier, Eric T. Ray, and Paul H. Greenwood. Vogtle’s grandfather, Alvin W. Vogtle, had been the Chairman and President of Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, before…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Untouchable?Crosswhite’s Alleged Secret Deal, Secret Meeting
We learned recently that many of the emails that convicted felon and Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert wrote giving updates on the bribery/AstroTurf scheme in North Birmingham were sent to Alabama Power executives. David Roberson, who was convicted of participating in the bribery scheme, was simply cc’d. (See the exhibit from the criminal trial below.) So was Balch & Bingham’s siamese twin, sister-wife Alabama Power really calling the shots as a major backer of the money laundering entity Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE)? What would be the motive for Alabama Power to be allegedly involved in this corrupt…
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Balch Hires 8 All-White Attorneys
Demonstrating again that Balch & Bingham’s leadership in Birmingham is oblivious to their own alleged institutional racism, the embattled firm recently announced the hiring of eight new associates throughout its footprint, including four in Birmingham. All of the new associates are white. Coming on the heels of a $19.5 million verdict loss in Miami, Balch’s attempts to rehabilitate their image appear to have sputtered. Last spring, the firm let go of their only female African-American attorney in the Birmingham office, Kimberly Bell. Bell was one of the lead attorneys representing Balch in the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Bell was a member…
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Could Balch Partners Be On the Hook for Millions?
[This post originally appeared on May 2, 2019. In August, a Counterfeit Order was exposed as an act of judicial fraud, which Balch & Bingham has affirmed was never entered into the State Judicial Information System. The stakes in the Newsome Conspiracy Case have risen even higher as a tell-all documentary is in the works] Eight figures is what it could cost to resolve the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Last year, Balch stooge Judge Carole Smitherman retaliated against Burt Newsome by signing 44 orders against Newsome the day after he appealed her refusal to recuse herself from the case. The 44…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
As Balch Tries to Rehab, Documentary Highlights Alleged “Legacy of Pure Evil”
On Friday, Brian Rell, who served as Congressman Robert Aderholt’s chief of staff for over a decade, jumped over to Balch & Bingham to rehabilitate their operations in Washington, D.C. Due in part to our efforts to educate the public and corporate leaders, Balch has lost 17 of 18 major D.C. lobbying clients and millions in fees. While Balch has hired an experienced and high-caliber Washington-insider, the question is: will major corporations want to be associated with a law firm allegedly engaged in institutional racism and the suppression of African-Americans in North Birmingham? With the criminal appeal hearing of ex-Drummond…
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No Exit Plan as Balch Drags Alabama Power Into the Manure Lagoon
When the Board of Directors of Alabama Power’s parent company, Southern Company, discusses future leadership, Mark A. Crosswhite, the CEO of Alabama Power, will probably be forever associated with the unsavory conduct, foolish antics, and baggage of Balch & Bingham, even though he left the firm years ago. The foolish leadership at Balch & Bingham appear to treat Crosswhite as their subordinate, not as a valued Chief Executive Officer of Alabama Power. Will Crosswhite be crossed-off as a possible successor to Southern Company’s current CEO Thomas A. Fanning? Balch looks like they never have thought about the consequences and detrimental…
