Category Archives: North Birmingham Bribery Case

Email Exposé: Southern Company Lobbyist Critical Element in North Birmingham; DOJ Compromised

Drummond, Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

The trifecta was complete. With U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Principal Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood, and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Southern Company compromised the U.S. Department of Justice with three of their most ardent lackeys in power at the same time.

We, the CDLU, provided documentation in December of 2017 to Jim Kerr, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Chief of Staff of Southern Company showing indisputably that Jeffrey H. Wood, a lobbyist for embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, had lobbied on behalf of Alabama Power in the second and third quarters of 2016 specifically about the North Birmingham CERCLA matter.

We provided Kerr with lobbying reports from the second quarter and third quarter of 2016 filed with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives showing he was clearly on Capitol Hill inquiring about CERCLA.

CERLA stands for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the North Birmingham CERCLA matter eventually led to bribery scheme born at the offices of Balch & Bingham and led by Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert, who is currently serving a 5-year sentence in federal prison for bribery and money laundering.

In January of 2018, during a phone call, Kerr falsely told us that Southern Company was not involved in the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme or the Newsome Conspiracy Case. Both were lies.

When confronted on the call about Jeffrey H. Wood, Kerr was side-swiped and obviously caught unprepared.

At first, Kerr said he wasn’t sure what we were asking, but after repeating the question with reminders, he took 5 seconds to respond with a canned legal answer: “It’s, um… I told you that I looked into the information provided me. We reviewed the information and I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

As The Root reported in 2018:

Kerr responded, “We do not see a place to step into [the Robinson scandal].” That rings hollow considering that Wood, Balch’s point lobbyist for Southern, was lobbying on Superfund policy at the time on behalf of Southern. In fact, Wood has specifically recused himself from any matters at the ENRD pertaining to the 35th Avenue site, suggesting that he was specifically lobbying about the site. After [the CDLU] pointed this out, Kerr took a long pause before going full Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “We reviewed the information. I have no concerns about anything inappropriate.”

Jim Kerr goes silent for 5 seconds when asked about Jeffrey H. Wood in 2018.

But now, never-seen-before emails delivered anonymously to the CDLU, show that Jeffrey H. Wood indeed was in the thick of the North Birmingham effort to suppress African Americans from having their toxic and contaminated property tested. The population of North Birmingham is 92.5 percent Black.

Jeffrey H. Wood

On May 18, 2016, Wood briefed Joel I. Gilbert about efforts on Capitol Hill, confirming that he was on Capitol Hill specifically about the “EPA’s actions in North Birmingham.”

The hearing on Capitol Hill was an attempt to help the criminal scheme to suppress African Americans by having congressmen allege that EPA employees were overzealous, acting improperly, accessing property without permission of the owner, and overreaching in their conduct.

They even alleged that the EPA was trying to close businesses employing people in the energy sector.

They even provided an unnamed affidavit, the star of the hearing, in an attempt to grill the two representatives of the EPA.

An orchestrated spectacle indeed!

But an hour later, Gilbert, so proud of the efforts on Capitol Hill by Southern Company, sent an email to the top brass at Drummond Coal Company, including “confused” Drummond General Counsel Blake Andrews, and executives from their affiliated company, ABC Coke.

What affidavit?

Southern Company lobbyist Wood was a critical element in the spectacle. He worked with congressional staff to create “talking points” and brought Congressman Gary Palmer “up to speed.”

And the unnamed affidavit, the star of the hearing?

Per the criminal enterprise’s request, the affidavit was not entered into the record nor was the name of the affiant ever released by Congressman Palmer.

An orchestrated spectacle indeed!

Eight months later, Jeffrey H. Wood would be one of the first people to enter the Trump Administration on inauguration day as the acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Wood would work under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions whose number one lifetime financial supporter as a candidate for U.S. Senator had been Southern Company while his number two lifetime financial supporter was Southern Company’s sister-wife Balch & Bingham, according to Open Secrets.

U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions Top Lifetime Financial Contributors

That summer of 2017, Jay E. Town would be confirmed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

The trifecta was complete.

With U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Principal Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood, and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, Southern Company compromised the U.S. Department of Justice with three of their most ardent lackeys in power at the same time.

Is it no wonder that no one expanded the North Birmingham bribery investigation after Gilbert and Roberson were found guilty in 2018?

Is it no wonder that no one investigated the terrorist acts and death threats against Burt Newsome, his wife, and his four young children in the summer of 2018?

Is it no wonder that no one investigated the initial billion-dollar cost overruns at the Kemper Plant in Mississippi and the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia?

Is it no wonder that no one investigated Jay Town who blocked four FBI investigations into the Newsome Conspiracy Case?

Southern Company was too powerful, too entrenched.

These emails demonstrate without a doubt that Southern Company was “up to their eyeballs” in North Birmingham and that the criminal RICO enterprise had three powerful lackeys in the U.S. Department of Justice that appear to have been more loyal to Southern Company than the pursuit of blind justice.

An orchestrated spectacle indeed!

Ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite enjoying libations before they both resigned in disgrace.

Southern Company Involved “Up to Their Eyeballs” in North Birmingham

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Southern Company lied to us in 2018 when they said they were not involved in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

Kerr

Jim Kerr, the former Chief Compliance Officer, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief of Staff of Southern Company blatantly denied in January of 2018 that Southern Company was involved with the immoral and criminal effort to suppress African Americans from having their toxic property tested by the EPA.

Kerr had the audacity to call the racism a “hypothesis.”

Now, we, the CDLU, have received a bunch of emails and documents anonymously showing that Southern Company was indeed involved in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal up to their eyeballs.

As we mentioned in our “Kingpins of Obstruction” post in March, disgraced ex-Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite was the one who insisted in 2015 that a new entity be created instead of using the Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) to respond to the EPA, according to anonymous documents obtained by DonaldWatkins.com.

The Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) was created and incorporated under orders of Crosswhite by the late William “Bo” Lineberry, the Balch partner who committed suicide last year.

Crosswhite was the Chair of the BBA in 2015.

Batch of documents sent to the CDLU included the email originally published by DonaldWatkins.com in March.

Southern Company was so concerned about the North Birmingham situation that any matter related to the area was referred to Balch & Bingham.

According to the documents we received recently, in July of 2015, Matthew Bowden, the then-Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Alabama Power, forwarded two emails from Crosswhite to then-Balch partner and now convicted felon Joel I. Gilbert.

Crosswhite had sent the emails to both Bowden and Zeke Smith, asking them to review the matter.

Zeke Smith

Zeke Smith is the Executive Vice President of External Affairs who authorized the expenditure of over $300,000 to terrorize and intimidate the Hispanic family of our Executive Director and CEO, K.B. Forbes, in 2020 and smear Burt Newsome, the attorney targeted by Balch & Bingham.

The two emails were sent to Crosswhite by the General Counsel of the BBA in regard to an invitation by the EPA to the BBA asking them to participate in a task force regarding North Birmingham brownfields.

A brownfield is a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination. Most of North Birmingham is contaminated and toxic.

Crosswhite took a BBA matter and turned it into a Southern Company matter.

Besides funneling $360,000 to AJE to buy off a politician, the criminal RICO enterprise used a web of businesses and an alleged “don’t-ask-just-donate” bribery ring to launder money used in nefarious and criminal misconduct.

More to come…

Come Hell, Hookers, or High Water, Southern Company Desperately Seeks Resolution and Reset

North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Another week and another cancellation today of Southern Company’s public meeting with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission about Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Reactors 3 and 4.

The cancellation comes on the heels of this week’s sensational allegation from DonaldWatkins.com that Alabama Power’s new CEO Jeff Peoples allegedly spent up to $30,000 a month in corporate funds on hookers and party pads.

Donaldwatkins.com writes:

Let’s party!

Reportedly, Alabama Power CEO Jeff Peoples had a propensity to spend up to $30,000 per month of the company’s money on party pads and black prostitutes at a time when this utility company was raising rates on its customers. These expenditures were reportedly funneled through … black subcontractors. None of this corporate misconduct was disclosed in the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sources claim that King & Spalding was unprepared for the alleged accounting fraud tied to the hookers and cost overruns at Vogtle and Kemper.

King & Spalding was following the alleged web of corruption, bribes, deceptive misconduct and inappropriate relationships with law enforcement including disgraced ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite’s secret deal with ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.

Southern Company will need to hire a forensic accounting firm to review what their independent accounting firm Deloitte and Touche missed and overlooked.

Sources claim that Southern Company is trying to resolve the extreme turmoil and chaos at the utility giant, obtain a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and hit the reset button before the change of command in two weeks.

Fanning

Outgoing Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning wanted to have a smooth transition, but multiple complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by victims of Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise have ended that dream.

The rocky transition and controversies swirling around the company have now spilled over. Beyond law enforcement and regulatory probes, Southern Company has now garnered the attention of national media.

As Southern Company desperately seeks resolution and a reset, observers agree that if the sensational allegations are true, then Alabama Power CEO Jeff Peoples needs to be immediately terminated.

And regardless of what criminal misconduct he may or may not know, Joe Perkins, the shadow president of Alabama Power and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama Politics, and his affiliated entities need to be fired now, today, this very moment.

Who will lead the charge? Fanning? incoming CEO Chris Womack?

Or a criminal indictment?

Perkins Allegedly Barked at Crosswhite: “Pack Your Bags!” – – Crosswhite Cooperating with Feds

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

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.

Crosswhite was ousted in November.

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.

Peoples, a Loyal Stooge for Sloppy Joe

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.

Kerr wanted to terminate Sloppy Joe

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.

Sloppy Joe and his stooge

Kingpins of Obstruction! Crosswhite Demanded Creation of AJE while Town Provided Unfettered Protection

North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Mark A. Crosswhite, the disgraced ex-Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power who was ousted in November, demanded the creation of the money laundering entity called the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) in the the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, according to an explosive report published yesterday on DonaldWatkins.com.

The explosive report includes an email exchange between Matthew W. Bowden, the former Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Alabama Power and Steven G. McKinney, the former Balch & Bingham partner who was indicted and later acquitted during the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

DonaldWatkins.com writes:

[AJE] was an Alabama Power Company-inspired creation.

McKinney explained to Bowden that AJE was the entity that former Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite “preferred” to deal with the company’s North Birmingham Superfund cleanup problem in 2015.

In his March 18, 2015 email, McKinney told Bowden that AJE is the “special purpose 501-c-6 entity Mark [Crosswhite] preferred over having BBA [Birmingham Business Alliance] respond to EPA’s expanded Superfund theories and GASP’s Toxic City campaign. The Alliance for Jobs and the Economy.”

The AJE was set up to launder over $360,000 in bribes to former State Representative Oliver Robinson who was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for his corrupt acts.

We, the CDLU, have learned that the email exchange, among thousands of documents, was provided to the U.S. Department of Justice under subpoena during the criminal investigation of North Birmingham but disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town allegedly buried it, ignored it.

Town, who was photographed slamming back cocktails with Crosswhite at the Moon Shine Lounge allegedly at the height of the criminal trial, allegedly consented to a secret deal to keep Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

Mark White, a white-collar criminal attorney and Crosswhite’s most-trusted advisor, was at the trial every day, according to courthouse observers. Others allege that any mention of Alabama Power had to be cleared by White.

Now with this new explosive report, at a minimum, Crosswhite should have been called as a witness at the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

Instead, Crosswhite appears to have been protected by Town.

We have been consistently told since October of 2021 that Crosswhite and Alabama Power are under investigation for alleged criminal obstruction of justice.

In February’s earnings call, the Chairman and CEO of Southern Company, Tom Fanning, stated that Crosswhite resigned because “he had some issues he wanted to deal with.”

What are these issues?

A potential criminal indictment? Obstruction of justice? Racketeering?

OIG Asked to Investigate Svinicki; FBI Probe of Southern Company Grows

Mississippi Controversy, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

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.

As DonaldWatkins.com wrote:

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.

Southern Company Under NRC Review; “Criminal Concealment” Confirmed by DOJ Probe in Puerto Rico; Oompa Loompa Frolics

North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

In 2017, Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 hurricane with winds of up to 174 mph, devastated Puerto Rico, killing over 3,000 individuals in its path, and costing $91 billion in damage.

But Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise appears to have seen an opportunity, a financial windfall.

According to ENRSoutheast:

“The [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’] Jacksonville District hired Durham, N.C.-based PowerSecure Inc., a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Co., via a sole source time-and-materials contract for repair and restoration of Puerto Rico’s power grid following Hurricane Maria in 2017. The Corps’ contract was initially worth $1.3 million. After several modifications, its value reached $523 million, according to a 2019 U.S. Dept. of Defense Inspector General audit.”

Southern made over 400 times more than originally planned.

But then came the federal probe. ENRSoutheast reports:

“U.S. Justice Dept. officials alleged that PowerSecure violated the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires that government negotiators have access to cost or pricing data when developing a proposal for a sole-source contract, as well as the False Claims Act, which makes contractors liable for defrauding the federal government, by knowingly failing to disclose pricing data related to labor and equipment costs on another post-hurricane restoration project it had taken in Florida and Georgia earlier in 2017.”

In December, Southern Company’s wholly owned subsidiary agreed to pay the federal government $8.4 million to resolve allegations that it improperly withheld pricing data.

The concealment of pricing data confirms what we correctly foreshadowed last April: criminal concealment has been a consistent element involving Southern Company and their stooges.

With the anonymous documents we received in November, criminal concealment has emerged as a central pattern in the Southern Company criminal RICO enterprise.

Just like the criminal enterprise took advantage of poor African American families in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, people of color in Puerto Rico appear to have been used, abused, and discarded.

A week ago, sources claim that “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the founder of Matrix, LLC and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, was frolicking in the atrium at the corporate headquarters of Alabama Power.

If true, was this an example of Sloppy Joe’s sheer arrogance and hubris, or was he being interviewed by King & Spalding, the outside law firm hired by Southern to conduct an internal probe of the criminal enterprise?

Unsubstantiated rumors are circulating saying that Sloppy Joe and Matrix have so much dirty laundry on Alabama Power executives, unlike Florida Power & Light, they cannot fire or terminate the diminutive consultant or his firm.

Regardless if the rumors are true or untrue, the fact that someone could possibly blackmail Southern Company executives makes the company an open security risk.

Maybe Southern Company needs to clean out all the stalls at Alabama Power filled with horse manure and fire all the compromised executives, regardless of the embarrassing or criminal misconduct.

Multiple sources state that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and staff now are reviewing the materials submitted by Donald V. Watkins and numerous other victims of Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise. This includes information about Balch & Bingham, the embattled law firm which represents Southern Nuclear (a Southern Company subsidiary) before the NRC.

NRC staff have been asked to revoke Southern Company’s license to operate nuclear facilities since they are a criminal RICO enterprise.

We learned that NRC staff have also been briefed on the Puerto Rico debacle.

With rumors creating an open security risk, the criminal RICO enterprise would certainly be “inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public” per federal regulations governing nuclear facilities and operators.

Nuked! RICO Victims Wage Formal Complaints against Southern Company before Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

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.

Vogtle

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.

Chairman Hanson

[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.

We believe that Section 2133(d) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, prohibits any regulated person or entity that knowingly participated in an ongoing racketeering enterprise from owning and operating nuclear power facilities in the U.S. Section 2133(d) expressly states that “no license may be issued to any person within the United States if, in the opinion of the Commission, the issue of a license to such person would be inimical to the common defense and security or to the health and safety of the public.” By definition, a person/entity that operates a multi-state racketeering enterprise poses a great danger to America’s national security and public safety.

We requested the NRC to: (i) immediately open a licensure and regulatory compliance investigation into this matter, in parallel with the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation; (ii) review the investigatory findings regarding the fitness of Southern Company affiliates to retain their participation as an operator (for Southern Nuclear) and principal owner (for Georgia Power) in the NRC licenses for Vogtle Nuclear Power Units 1, 2, 3, and 4, (iii) hold a public hearing on the identified licensure matter, and (iv) determine what legal action by the NRC, if any, appears to be warranted and appropriate in connection with this licensure and regulatory compliance complaint.

Southern Company Knocked Against the Ropes: Federal Probe Confirmed as Criminal RICO Complaint Lodged

Drummond, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

The Form 8-K filing confirms that a federal probe is moving forward.

As we wrote last Thursday, both Southern Company and Florida Power and Light (FPL) appear to be preparing to negotiate “deferred prosecution agreements” with the U.S. Department of Justice.

But Southern Company has been knocked against the ropes according to a bombshell post on news blog DonaldWatkins.com.

On January 27, 2023, a criminal complaint was filed with Mr. Kenneth Polite, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, that alleged a litany of violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by: (a) Southern Company, Inc., (b) Alabama Power Company, (c) Matrix, LLC, (d) Joseph W. Perkins, Jr., (owner of Matrix), and (e) others RICO participants who worked in concert with them.

The major goals of the alleged racketeering enterprise were to: (a) target, influence, compromise, corrupt, control, and/or destroy individuals and entities that posed a perceived or real threat to Alabama Power’s monopoly in Alabama as an energy producer and provider, (b) perpetuate Alabama Power’s ironclad control of local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials in Alabama, and (c) protect, expand, and solidify its grip on the political affairs in the state of Alabama.

The complaint also alleges that the named offenders engaged in criminal antitrust conduct against certain Watkins-owned biomass-to-energy businesses that competed on a commercial scale against biomass-to-energy businesses owned and/or controlled by the Southern Company in the same U.S. markets.

The complaint was accompanied by a detailed Proffer of Evidence that named the specific offenders and outlined the nature and scope of the RICO and antitrust conduct that adversely impacted the complainants and caused them severe economic harm.

The named complainants are: (a) Donald V. Watkins, Sr., (b) Donald V. Watkins, Jr., (c) Donald V. Watkins, P.C., (d) Watkins-Pencor, LLC, (e) the Donald Watkins Agency, Inc., (f) DNA Centers of Alabama, Inc., and (g) Highland Virtual Suites, LLC, all of which are/were owned by the complainants during the racketeering conspiracy period.

The criminal RICO complaint could help consolidate the numerous criminal allegations against the embattled utility and its highly paid stooges: Balch & Bingham and Matrix, LLC. Drummond Company (and others) may also be viewed as a possible participant in this RICO scheme.

In another bombshell post, DonaldWatkins.com outlines possible indictments against Southern Company, Florida Power & Light, and Matrix, LLC founder “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics.

On January 25, 2023, NextEra Energy (NEE) and Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing that “Allegations of violations of law by FPL or NEE have the potential to result in fines, penalties, or other sanctions or effects, as well as cause reputational damage for FPL and NEE, and could hamper FPL’s and NEE’s effectiveness in interacting with governmental authorities.”

The Form 8-K stated that “FPL’s and NEE’s business and reputation could be adversely affected by allegations that FPL or NEE has violated laws, by any investigations or proceedings that arise from such allegations, or by ultimate determinations of legal violations.”

The violations of law referenced in the 8-K stem from the clandestine “dirty tricks” work Joe Perkins’ Matrix, LLC, performed for these companies.

On the same day of NEE’s Form 8-K filing, chief executive officer Eric Silagy was ousted as CEO of FPL.

In November 2022, the Southern Company ousted Mark Crosswhite as Alabama Power’s chief executive officer, effective on December 31, 2022.

The Southern Company has not issued a Form 8-K filing yet, but may do so after an internal investigation by the Atlanta-based King & Spalding, LLP, law firm centering on Matrix’s “dirty tricks” work for the Southern Company and Alabama Power is completed.

The Form 8-K filing confirms that a federal probe is moving forward. NEE would never risk writing about potential violations of law in an SEC filing unless there was an ongoing probe.

In October of 2021, we learned that a federal probe of obstruction of justice against Alabama Power and Crosswhite had been launched over the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

In July, we had both phone and written communication with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the money laundering of over $50 million using 18 tax-exempt entities as foolishly outlined by Sloppy Joe in a since-deleted post on Yellowhammer News, an Alabama Power controlled “news” website.

In addition to the highly anticipated civil RICO lawsuits to be filed in the next 30 to 60 days, the filed criminal RICO complaint and ongoing federal probes are putting insurmountable pressure on Southern Company, knocked against the ropes as spectators anticipate a technical knock-out.

Sins of Matrix: Florida Power and Light Ousts CEO; Criminal Scrutiny Escalates as Utilities Seek Deferred Prosecution Agreements

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham, Uncategorized

Copying the same dance moves as disgraced ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, Eric Silagy, the CEO of Florida Power and Light (FPL) resigned abruptly yesterday.

Silagy, like Crosswhite, was embroiled in scandal and alleged criminal probes related to the obscure political consulting firm Matrix, founded by “Sloppy Joe ” Perkins, the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics.

NPR reported yesterday about Silagy’s downfall and the controversies surrounding FPL,  writing : Continue reading Sins of Matrix: Florida Power and Light Ousts CEO; Criminal Scrutiny Escalates as Utilities Seek Deferred Prosecution Agreements →

Debacle at Balch & Bingham as another African American Dumps Embattled Law Firm

North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Jace D. Williams, who was hired by Balch & Bingham’s Atlanta office in September of 2021, left the embattled firm 14 months later.

Déjà vu as the pattern repeats itself again and again: Balch hires people of color who then practically flee through the fire escape.

98 percent of Balch partners are white, and the facade of “diversity” is crumbling.

Espy

On top of that, the alleged racist law firm Balch & Bingham celebrated their centennial anniversary last year, on a hilltop, isolated from the world, just days after their former associate, Chase T. Espy, pled guilty to possession of kiddie porn. Espy is now a registered sex offender.

While Balch’s managing partner Stan Blanton has been busy collecting make-believe awards for diversity and inclusion, the rumbling of another exodus is real.

From Jackson, Mississippi to Jacksonville, Florida, Balch partners and associates are reading about and discussing the expected civil RICO lawsuit involving Balch’s sister-wife Alabama Power, parent company Southern Company, the obscure political consulting firm Matrix, and of course Balch.

Balch has refused to apologize for the criminal misconduct of ex-partner Joel I. Gilbert who targeted poor African American residents of North Birmingham in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal.

In the criminal enterprise funded by Southern Company, the goons targeted and harassed a Hispanic family and their young children in a campaign of terror in 2020 that forced the family to flee for their safety.

As we wrote this in November of 2021, shortly after Jace D. Williams was hired:

The firm has been seen a mass exodus of experienced and money-making partners in the last several years.

The crew left behind appear to be a collection of “green behind the ears” attorneys who lack experience and quality of work product. As we reported this summer, Balch has seen a decline of 27% of their local attorneys and has allegedly been plagued by inexperience.

The death spiral caused by less revenue and more inexperience appears to help Balch & Bingham’s competitors.

We wish Jace the best of luck and also to those attorneys and staff at Balch contemplating an exodus from what looks like a firm with a self-inflicted death spiral.

Attempted Murder by Southern Company? Ongoing Investigation Reveals Explosive New Evidence Linking Crosswhite Advisor to Newsome Head-On, Near-Death Collision

Drummond, Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

We’ve said it before: there is no such thing as a coincidence in Alabama.

And now the connections to the Southern Company criminal enterprise are solidifying on a case of what some would call attempted murder.

In 2019, we, the CDLU, uncovered the fact that the cop that pulled over Burt Newsome in his staged arrest in 2013 was the son of an Alabama Power executive. The executive was also a long-time client of Balch & Bingham.

Now, with a highly anticipated civil RICO lawsuit in the works, the corruption of law enforcement is getting a deep review.

How many other abuses under the authority of color has Southern Company’s criminal enterprise engaged in?

The CDLU, working with investigators, has found stunning evidence in the near-death, head-on car collision of Burt Newsome. The investigation is currently ongoing.

The accident occurred on September 10, 2020, at the height of the aggressive campaign of terror by Southern Company’s criminal enterprise against Newsome and his family.

Newsome

Southern Company paid for luggage to be sent to the Newsome family as a threat to his wife and four young kids. Creating fear, Newsome’s wife was targeted, and her car window was smashed in.

Two weeks before the head-on accident, Southern Company paid for a smear site that falsely called Newsome a rapist.

Newsome refused to end the Newsome Conspiracy Case and refused to drop ex-Drummond executive David Roberson’s $75 million civil lawsuit.

Even with all the threats and lies, Newsome was not intimidated.

Was the car accident planned as the ultimate way to end both lawsuits? Death?

Highly unusual, a State Trooper arrived on the scene only minutes after the accident, as if he were a fox in waiting.

The accident occurred on a County Road and in Shelby County only Sheriff Deputies can draft up an accident report; State Troopers are called only when a fatality is involved.

Were they expecting Newsome to be dead?

The accident report by the State Trooper is completely inaccurate and photos taken at the scene prove that the accident report was deliberately misleading.

The accident report’s attempts to show that the person who hit Newsome was simply making a left turn and that Newsome hit him straight up. That is false.

Newsome was driving a blue Volkswagen Jetta and the other driver was driving a green Ford Explorer.

Newsome saw the person appearing to come straight at him and Newsome made a defensive move and swerved to his left just beyond a yellow “suicide” lane. However, the driver of the other vehicle then turned to his right and appears to have gunned it towards Newsome.

The other driver’s wheels are turned to the right and appears that he was driving straight, not turning at all to his left.

The accident report attempts to imply that the accident happened as Newsome was entering the intersection. It did not.

A photo taken at the scene clearly shows that the entrance and center of the intersection is clear. You can clearly see the yellow “suicide” lane

Looking westbound, Newsome was driving eastbound (towards the camera).

The side-by-side graphic below shows what the state trooper filed and what would be a more accurate visualization of the accident where the wheels of the Ford Explorer were actually turned to the right. In addition, the accident report attempts to show that Newsome (Car #2) was going straight and then moved to his right, a falsity. The opposite is true.

The State Trooper attempted to prevent photos from being taken. A photo taken from another angle of the accident shows that the Ford Explorer’s left tire is also facing to the right.

When you look at the photos and compare them to the accurate visualization, the state trooper’s report is definitively inaccurate and wrong.

But more troubling than the photos and inaccurate if not false accident report is the narrative provided by the state trooper.

In the narrative, the trooper states that the driver of the green Ford Explorer stated, “as he was going to make his left turn another car in front of him was making a right turn on County Road 11, and he did not see vehicle #2 behind the non-contact vehicle and as the non-contact turned right he was turning left and vehicle #2 entered the intersection and struck him.”

That is absurd and impossible!

You cannot turn right going westbound or you will end up on a mound of dirt.

Even if a car coming in the opposite direction was turning to the right, there is a dedicated right turning lane.

Nothing would be obscured.

Mark White

The ongoing investigation has not only found that the accident report was severely inaccurate and at times false, there is now solid evidence of connections between the state trooper and a known business associate of Mark White, the most trusted advisor of disgraced ex-CEO of Alabama Power, Mark A. Crosswhite.

White is a white-collar criminal attorney who represents Alabama Power and attended the North Birmingham Bribery Trial every day, according to court observers.

The business associate also appears to be linked to the individual(s) who allegedly filed the false police report in 2013 that led to Newsome’s staged arrest in the Newsome Conspiracy Case by the son of an Alabama Power executive.

Investigators are digging deep into the relationships between the state trooper, White’s business associate, and the driver of the green Ford Explorer who allegedly works at Norfolk Southern, a Southern Company transportation provider.

Burt Newsome is an Iron Man and has vigorously fought back against the corrupt judicial system and co-conspirators. After the accident, he rehabilitated himself and has successfully grown a respected law office with more clients, more victories, and precedent-setting decisions.

Investigators are asking, since Newsome would not give-in, did Crosswhite order the final solution? Was Mark White stupid enough “to follow orders?”

This is an ongoing investigation, and we will provide further updates.

Birmingham Mayor Funnels Whopping $1.8 Million to Birmingham Times, Another Alabama Power Funded, Compromised, and Slanted News Site

North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Both the Woodfin Administration and executives at the Birmingham Times appear to have taken extreme measures to conceal the flow of money that is reported in this post.

Investigative and independent mainstream journalism is dead in Alabama. Sadly, Southern Company’s criminal enterprise holds the purse and keys.

In December, National Public Radio published an article titled, “In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics.” 

The article highlighted how Alabama Power funneled money to Alabama Political Reporter (APR) and Yellowhammer News, and in turn, received exclusively positive coverage while fiercely attacking Alabama Power’s critics.

Josh Moon Stalking the CDLU

The NPR report confirms the anonymous financial documents we received and what we suspected when APR and brain amputee Josh Moon attacked and smeared the CDLU in 2020.

Now we have uncovered a new development.

In addition to funding news sites that attack their critics, an affiliate of Alabama Power, the Alabama Power Foundation, funded the acquisition of a black-owned news site in Birmingham, the Birmingham Times.

In 2016, James Lewis sold the newspaper to The Foundation for Progress in Journalism (FPJ), a not-for-profit organization.  The Foundation was incorporated on February 20, 2013, with no reported donations that year.  

In 2014, the Foundation for Progress in Journalism received $35,000 from the Alabama Power Foundation, its sole donor. In 2015, the Alabama Power Foundation contributed another $100,000 to the Foundation for Progress in Journalism, which was 100% of its income.  In 2016, the Alabama Power Foundation contributed another $50,000 to the Foundation for Progress in Journalism, which used its cash on hand to buy the Birmingham Times. 

And guess who incorporated the foundation?

Alabama Power’s sister-wife Balch & Bingham.

On August 19, 2020, the Foundation for Progress in Journalism changed its name to the Bronze Valley Foundation.  The registered agent’s address is 600 18th Street North, Birmingham, Alabama, the same address for Alabama Power Company.

J. Houston Smith, III

The Bronze Valley Foundation is associated directly with the Bronze Valley Corp. and was formed in Alabama as a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation in 2015.  Its address is the same as Alabama Power Company’s.  The registered agent is J. Houston Smith, III, Alabama Power Vice President of Government Affairs and former Balch & Bingham partner.

Bronze Valley Corp. was originally incorporated under the name “Elevate Alabama, Inc.” The name was changed to Bronze Valley Corp. on November 28, 2017, which was shortly after Randall Woodfin was sworn-in to his first term as Mayor of Birmingham.

The current board of directors listed on Bronze Valley Corp. include Jeff Peoples, the new Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power, and Houston Smith.

Bronze Valley Corp. acknowledges in its Impact Report for 2018 to 2020 that it receives principal financial support from Alabama Power Company, the Alabama Power Foundation, Regions Bank, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

On August 20, 2020, the City of Birmingham withdrew $1,146,377.76 from a money market account at BBVA Compass Bank.  Mayor Randall Woodfin used this money to pay a “batch” of Birmingham Times invoices for “Legal Advertising.” The payment was coded as a “Nondepartmental” expenditure.

This $1,146,377.76 payment came out of the city’s $412.8 million operating budget for 2020-2021.  As of December 16, 2022, Woodfin has quietly funneled $1,815,170.84 to the Birmingham Times during his tenure as Mayor of Birmingham.

A breakdown of the city payments to the Birmingham Times Media Group and affiliated entities is available in the city’s Open Checkbook under the “Transactions Report” portal when the vendor name Birmingham Times Media Group is entered.

Included in Mayor Woodfin’s $1,815,170.84 payments to the Birmingham Times entities is a $32,500.00 recurring payment for “Professional Fees,” an amount that doubled from the $16,250 recurring payments on April 26, 2021.  

During his tenure as mayor, Woodfin has paid the Birmingham Times entities $228,105.00 in “Professional Fees,” alone.

A search of the Birmingham Times website (as of December 28, 2022) reveals that no classified legal advertisements have appeared on the newspaper’s website since January 12, 2017.

While the Birmingham Times has published a print edition during Woodfin’s tenure as mayor, we have been unable to verify or quantify the volume of “Legal Advertising” the city has placed in the Birmingham Times printed edition during this five-year period.

According to Gaebler.com, the estimated minimum rate for ads in the Birmingham Times is $23. Gaeber notes that “advertising rate estimates are typically for a column inch of black and white advertising space.  Seasonal factors should also be considered.”

Prior to Woodfin becoming mayor, the Birmingham Times received about $75,000 a year from the city for the placement of legal ads.

After the change in ownership at the Birmingham Times in 2016, the newspaper hired a seasoned team of executives and reporters, improved its design, enhanced its online presence, and published a steady stream of “Happy News” for its targeted readership.  

“Happy News” features positive stories about community events and uplifting profiles of non-controversial people.

“Happy News” does not include hard-hitting, investigative reporting that exposes known polluters in Alabama; spotlights public corruption within local, state or federal government; or shows the need for transparency and accountability in government operations and campaign financing laws.  

Because the Birmingham Times has received $1,815,170.84 from the City of Birmingham during Woodfin’s term in office (through December 31, 2022), “Happy News” does not include any criticism of the Woodfin administration on any issue.

Finally, “Happy News” does not include any kind of negative media coverage of Alabama Power, Southern Company, the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, or Alabama Power’s networking business partners and political allies.

The Birmingham Times is not required to publicly disclose the names of the individuals and/or entities that have financially benefited from the $1,815,170.84 Mayor Woodfin funneled to Birmingham Times entities between the time he assumed office in 2017 and the end of 2022.

Neither the Foundation for Progress in Journalism, nor the Bronze Valley Foundation, has disclosed this information, either.

Blalock

One of the board members of the Bronze Valley Foundation is Bob Blalock, a public relations spin doctor at Alabama Power Company. Prior to joining Alabama Power, Blalock was a reporter and editorial page editor at The Birmingham News.  He is a specialist in molding public opinion on controversial issues.

Beginning on September 4, 2022, the Birmingham Times Media Group and AL.com started collaborating on a series of articles for publication in the Birmingham Times that focus on the sky-high homicide rates in the city.  The articles soft peddled the severity of the violent crime in the city and portrayed Woodfin in the best light possible.

AL.com is Alabama’s largest mainstream new media organization. It operates the Huntsville Times, Birmingham News, and Mobile Press Register.

Under the collaboration arrangement, AL.com produced content that was published in the Birmingham Times, as written by AL.com employees John Archibald, Amy Yurkanin, Greg Garrison, Carol Robinson, Ryan Michaels, and Roy Johnson.

Shortly before this collaboration began, Woodfin’s recurring payments to Birmingham Times entities for “Professional Fees” increased from $16,250 to $32,500 for each payment. It is not known what portion of this increase in fees, if any, was funneled to AL.com under the collaboration arrangement.

What is known, however, is the fact that AL.com aligned with the Birmingham Times in showering Woodfin with consistent and favorable news coverage, at taxpayers’ expense.  

It is also known that both the Woodfin administration and executives at the Birmingham Times appear to have taken extreme measures to conceal the flow of money that is reported in this post.

Neither the Birmingham Times, nor AL.com, has publicly disclosed their transformation from an independent news reporting role to paid standard bearers for Woodfin’s “marketing and promotions” program funded by Alabama Power.

Mayor Woodfin has never publicly disclosed the fact that taxpayer dollars have been funneled through the Birmingham Times entities to a financially struggling AL.com, which has turned a blind eye to questionable financial practices at City Hall, and the alleged corruption tied to Southern Company’s criminal enterprise and their hired guns at Alabama Power, Balch & Bingham, and Matrix.

Shameful!

Sealed Documents Show Southern Company’s Law Enforcement Stooges Silenced Critics and Media

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

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.

Watkins

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.

Sloppy Joe’s handwritten notes mentions federal subpoenas (last line)

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.

Sipping Town

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…”

While Balch Gets Terminated Again, Newsome Sets Legal Precedent

Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

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!