Category Archives: RICO

Corporate Execs Were Protected by Southern Company Lackeys; Balch Warned that Emails Could “Easily End Up in the Wrong Hands”

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

For at least two years, 2017 and 2018, U.S. Attorney Jay Town, Principal Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appear to have never allowed a probe of Southern Company or an expansion of the investigation in North Birmingham to happen on their watch.

Since the Southern Company criminal RICO enterprise had their grip on the U.S. Department of Justice with three of their most staunch lackeys in key positions, no probes or an expansion of the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal ever happen.

Southern Company Stooges (L to R) Sessions, Wood, and Town

The anonymous documents we, the CDLU, received included a list of corporate attendees to a luncheon of the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) that was held on November 30, 2015.

The AJE, an entity pushed by ex-Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, was the organization that laundered over $360,000 in bribes to former Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson.

Through the emails and documents that we have obtained, over 20 entities were involved at some point with the AJE.

The “lone wolves” theory issued by disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town was a crock.

Southern Company was involved (as were others) and a good prosecutor should have interviewed each and every entity and individual involved, even if their involvement was peripheral.

McWane’s Proctor

From Jim Proctor, Senior Vice President of Legal and External Affairs, at McWane, to Chip Grizzle, General Counsel at Brasfield & Gorrie, from Van Richey, the CEO and President at American Cast Iron Pipe Company, to Joe Howle, the Manager of Environmental, Community, and Government Affairs at Vulcan Materials, each and every individual who had any interaction with AJE should have been interviewed.

Now with a new EPA director, Michael S. Regan, and new leadership at the U.S. Department of Justice, law enforcement should re-open the North Birmingham Bribery Probe and investigate Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise, and the other 19 or so entities involved with AJE.

Embattled law firm Balch & Bingham was so wary and preoccupied with the scheme that Balch partner Steve McKinney dispatched an email in April of 2015 warning staff and Drummond executives to be careful about dispersing information in email correspondence since “your emails will not be privileged and it not hard to imagine that they could easily end up in the wrong hands.”

McKinney included a distribution list that included top brass at Southern Company, Drummond, ABC Coke, Alabama Power, McWane, United States Steel and the American Cast Iron Pipe Company.

Balch & Bingham’s Steve McKinney warned that emails could “easily end up in the wrong hands.” We have intentionally obscured email addresses out of privacy.

In an addition to that email, we also received a list of attendees to an AJE luncheon, showing that many leading businesses were invited to participate at the inception of this money laundering entity.

At the lunch was Mike Thompson, the owner of Thompson Tractor who was listed as a director of the AJE in the incorporation documents from the State of Delaware.

Thompson allegedly took Balch & Bingham’s biggest stooge, former U.S. Senator and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, directly to Drummond’s headquarters in 2014 to meet Drummond family members and pick up a $25,000 check.

Mike Thompson

A few days later, Strange signed a letter ghost-written by Balch & Bingham attacking the EPA’s efforts to put the North Birmingham Superfund Site on the National Priorities List and expanding the site to include the City of Tarrant.

An official act in exchange for an alleged $25,000 bribe?

Without a doubt, now is the time to re-open the North Birmingham probe and question all of these business leaders and entities.

The four pages of attendees. We have removed email addresses and phone numbers out of privacy.

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…

RICO Enterprise Lied and Bribed! Southern Company’s “Creative Accounting” at Vogtle Exposed

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

Net income at Southern Company rose to $3.5 billion in 2022, a 47 percent increase as compared to 2021.

Last year, the Alabama Public Service Commission rubber-stamped three rate increases at Alabama Power generating an estimated $400 million a year in additional revenue.

The most-profitable subsidiary of Southern Company, Alabama Power, has been helping cover the enormous billion-dollar cost overruns at both the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant and the boondoggle Kemper Plant in Mississippi.

But Alabama Power is not alone.

Another Southern Company subsidiary, Georgia Power obtained a $1.8 billion rate increase on December 20, 2022.

Causing outrage, the rate increases come as Southern Company generated almost $30 billion in revenue in 2022, seeing revenues increase by 26 percent in a year.

Net income at Southern Company rose to $3.5 billion in 2022, a 47 percent increase as compared to 2021.

Pouring in billion-dollar profits even while suffering billion-dollar cost overruns, Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise appears to have used a web of subsidiaries, affiliated entities, political insiders, and creative accounting to deceive or manipulate ratepayers, investors, and regulators.

Funneling millions to not-for-profit entities or political action committees, giving blatant bribes campaign contributions directly or indirectly to public service commissioners or key politicians, hiring political smear artists, and contracting powerful government insiders, the RICO enterprise has successfully continued to operate without repercussions by easily targeting or silencing perceived enemies or critics.

Until now.

Ogelthorpe Power, one of three minority operators of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, filed a devastating civil lawsuit last June and outlined some of the horrific shenanigans and creative accounting that Southern Company’s subsidiary, Georgia Power, has engaged in, to lie about Vogtle cost overruns.

Ogelthorpe states:

Ignoring all prior cost forecasts for Vogtle Units 3 and 4, including the cost
forecast of $17.1 billion that nearly brought the project to an end and was the reason the co-owners entered into the Co-Owner Term Sheet and Global Amendments, Georgia Power apparently takes the position that the term “VCM 19 Forecast,” which is defined as “the total project cost of which GPC’s share is $8.4 billion,” contains a hidden math formula. According to Georgia Power, one is to divide $8.4 billion by Georgia Power’s Ownership Interest (45.7%) to produce a result of $18.38 billion, and that number – which has never been a cost forecast for the project and has never been discussed by the parties – rather than $17.1 billion, should be viewed as the total project cost at the time of VCM 19. Georgia Power’s theory, while creative, is entirely inconsistent with Georgia Power’s own presentation of the relevant numbers at the time the co-owners entered into the Co-Owner Term Sheet and Global Amendments.

Using creative accounting to turn $17.1 billion into $18.38 billion is truly absurd.

To obscure and pass along $1.2 billion in additional cost overruns using a hidden math formula, Southern Company affirms that the criminal RICO enterprise is deceptive, dishonest, and devious.

But who isn’t surprised?

Southern Company, using embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, dishonestly targeted an innocent father of four.

Southern Company, using the obscure political consulting firm Matrix, LLC, deceptively targeted and terrorized a Hispanic family.

Southern Company deviously paid for a website falsely calling an attorney a rapist.

The deception is coming home to bite Southern Company.

The math is simple and exposes the absurdity of the RICO enterprise.

The cost overruns at Vogtle are in the billions. Southern Company obtained rate increases in the billions, sticking it to the ratepayers. All the while, Southern Company was making billions in revenue, net income, and profits.

Final question: Who is cooking the books?

Spreadsheets Confirm Waste of Millions by Southern Company Against Innocent Victims

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

The expenditures had no corporate purpose whatsoever.

In a seven-week period in the summer of 2020, Southern Company approved expenditures of over $318,000 to target, smear, intimidate, and threaten innocent victims. The victims included us, the CDLU, Burt Newsome, K.B. Forbes and their respective families.

The CDLU, the Forbes Family, and the Newsome Family were not adversaries or competitors of Southern Company or its subsidiaries.

At a burn rate of $45,000 a week, Southern Company may have spent more than $1 million a year in expenses related to dark ops, surveillance, and clandestine misconduct spearheaded by obscure consulting firm Matrix, LLC.

Here are the spreadsheets that are just some of the documents now in the possession of federal law enforcement and federal regulators:

The spreadsheets demonstrate sheer out-of-control spending approved by Zeke Smith, the Executive Vice President of Government Affairs for Alabama Power.

Moon before he amputated his brain and shaved his head.

The discredited Alabama Political Reporter (APR) was bought and paid for $120,000 that would be disbursed monthly through August of 2021, according to the spreadsheet.

APR was the highest paid stooge, according to all entries on the financial records.

Besides the smear pieces from that summer of 2020, brain amputee and disgraced CDLU stalker Josh Moon wrote two more APR hit pieces in January and February of 2021 attacking Burt Newsome and K.B. Forbes.

Moon’s hit pieces flopped and were mocked, an embarrassing career moment for a has-been journalist and failed realtor.

Southern Company spent over $20,000 in boosting APR hit pieces on digital platforms including Facebook, that utterly backfired.

Southern Company also spent over $9,000 developing and publicizing two smear websites on Forbes, the CDLU, and Newsome. One site falsely defamed and called Newsome a rapist and untruthfully labeled and defamed Forbes as a defender of a rapist.

The second site never went live.

Antisemite booster Frank Matthews was paid $6,000 to put up signs and hand out flyers about the website. Ironically, the signs were removed by the City of Birmingham within 48 hours of their appearance, in late August of 2020, during a severe rainstorm.

The earliest dated expenditure was June 11, 2020 in which Southern Company approved the purchase of software Import Genius at $399.00 to track an exportation by the Forbes Family.

The expenditure, with no corporate purpose, was a stunning invasion of privacy.

On that same day, June 11, 2020, the Forbes Family received a Bill of Lading (BOL) from the shipping company used by Pottery Barn. The Forbes’ exported a Princess Castle Bed to Mexico for their then-three-year-old daughter.

Fake Protesters enter in rented van from Budget.

1st Boost was an apparent $5,000 payment for the initial attack on Forbes, where they terrorized his family and made his then eight-year-old cry in fear.

Southern Company buffoons in a rented van went to the house adjacent to Forbes’ and held a quick “shoot and scoot” fake protest, and left within two-minutes.

The buffoons couldn’t spell Forbes’ last name correctly.

Law enforcement showed up after a terrorized neighbor called 911. For their own safety and suggestions from law enforcement, Forbes’ family fled to Mexico while Forbes’ neighbors moved, placing a deposit on a new home six-days after the fake protest.

The expenditures of terror and intimidation had no corporate purpose whatsoever.

Spring Break Madness at Southern Company

RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

We will return next week.

However, Spring Break madness has erupted at Southern Company.

From DonaldWatkins.com stunning reports, to allegations of accounting fraud, from independent directors allegedly pocketing millions, to Kristine L. Svinicki’s unethical, conflict-of-interest tainted appointment, Southern Company is suffering from complete chaos. Employee morale is in the toilet and employees are making their angry voices known.

Spring Break…a time to let loose and party.

The chain of command at Southern Company changes this week, yet no one is drinking from a beer bong, or celebrating with a wet t-shirt contest.

Instead, Kerr, Peoples, Fanning and others are suffering from a severe hangover caused by Balch & Bingham, Matrix, LLC, and the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, Joe Perkins.

Documents related to the criminal RICO enterprise have brought to light the high crimes and misdemeanors that Southern Company never, ever thought would be exposed.

Hungover: ( L to R) Jim Kerr, Jeff Peoples, and Tom Fanning. Joe Perkins is alert in baby carrier.

Use of Fear, Threat of Death: Alabama Power CEO Jeff Peoples Approved Terrorizing Children and Hid Payment as “Transportation Organization Management”

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

Top Alabama Power employees have been documenting Peoples’ demands to cover themselves in the event things at the company blowup…

DonaldWatkins.com

Yesterday’s breaking news report from DonaldWatkins.com that included audio of Alabama Power’s new but embattled Chairman and CEO Jeff Peoples declaring “what ya’ll are going to get from me is sunshine and transparency” has caused a firestorm at the utility.

Peoples comments of “sunshine and transparency” go counter to the hard evidence law enforcement and others have.

Peoples, as Executive Vice President of Employee and Customer Services at Alabama Power, hid additional payments to Matrix, LLC, the obscure political consulting firm that allegedly engaged in nefarious if not criminal misconduct and other entities tied to Matrix’s founder, Joe Perkins, by issuing vague “extra work authorizations.”

Y’all like obscuring the truth?

As we pointed out in December, shortly after ex-Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite resigned in disgrace, Peoples signed off on an “extra work authorization” in 2018 paying Perkins an additional mid-five figures on top of the secret multi-million-dollar annual contracts the firm and its founder, Perkins, received.

Now, today, we publish that work authorization in its entirety:

And what was the $39,300 allegedly for?

For “transportation organization management” according to the document, but a blatant lie insiders confirm.

The reality is the extra work authorization was to target and terrorize the young children of Burt Newsome.

Newsome, an attorney who represents banks and financial institutions, was stunned when his wife and four young children were sent a threatening package tied to the “extra work authorization.”

As we wrote in August of 2018:

But now come the real sick idiots who sent the Newsome family a threatening package: Five pieces of luggage and numerous clothing outfits. 

The message was crystal clear: get ready to pack and leave town.

Were they threatening the family? The father, Burt Newsome? Was he going to be injured, killed or murdered?  Or were the wife and children going to “disappear” on a permanent vacation?

The extra work authorization was authorized on August 3, 2018 and the incident against the Newsome family happened four days later on August 7, 2018 according to the police report.

A stolen credit card obtained from the break in of Newsome’s wife car a few days earlier was used in the purchase of the travel bags and outfits. Use of a stolen credit card is a felony.

As Donald Watkins.com wrote yesterday:

Alabama Power Company employees are very uncomfortable with Jeff Peoples, but they are meeting his leadership demands. After all, Peoples is their new CEO.

However, top Alabama Power employees have been documenting Peoples’ demands to cover themselves in the event things at the company blowup because they know that Jeff Peoples funded all the Joe Perkins/Matrix “dirty tricks” projects, with absolutely no accountability.

Perkins’ Southern Company-related work assignments are the subject of multiple media and law enforcement investigations in multiple states. Perkins handwritten notes have also implicated Southern Company in a massive $27 billion, multi-year accounting fraud scheme.

And the massive, multi-year accounting fraud scheme is evident in these obscure “extra work authorizations” used to pay for insidious, nefarious, if not criminal misconduct, and allegedly including identity theft, robbery, retaliation against an informant, use of a stolen credit card, use of fear, threat of murder, threat of bodily injury or death, invasion of privacy, intrusion of seclusion and much, much more.

And these Southern Company executives cannot foresee a criminal RICO case right before their eyes?

Barking Joe

Maybe Joe Perkins is barking at Peoples like he barked at Crosswhite before Crosswhite’s sudden but expected demise.

This bogus “transportation organization management” work order adds to last week’s sensational allegation from DonaldWatkins.com that Peoples allegedly spent up to $30,000 a month in corporate funds on hookers and party pads.

A forensic audit is in order and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must broaden their probe to look at bogus work orders, wire fraud, and alleged misappropriation of corporate funds. Any criminal findings should be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the meantime, Southern Company must terminate Joe Perkins, Jeff Peoples, Balch & Bingham and all the elements involved in the criminal RICO enterprise.

Newsome’s children deserve it. Investors deserve it. Rate payers deserve it.

The era of dirty deeds, dirty lingerie, and dirty accounting methods must come to an end, no matter how ugly or painful the consequences are.

Painful but necessary: a forensic audit is in order.

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?

Southern Company Chaos as NRC Meeting Abruptly Cancelled; Fanning and Womack in DC; Balch Erased

RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

Today’s highly-awaited public meeting of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) discussing Southern Company’s Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Reactors 3 and 4 has been abruptly cancelled.

This follows numerous formal letters by victims of Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise calling on the NRC to investigate Southern Company and revoke their nuclear power plant licenses as a national security threat.

The NRC has acknowledged the letters and is currently reviewing the matters at hand.

Sources claim that both the current Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning and incoming, soon-to-be CEO Chris Womack are in Washington, D.C. now, today, this very moment.

If true, are they meeting with the U.S. Department of Justice in an attempt to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement?

Southern Company foolishly has used the tainted and embattled law firm Balch & Bingham to represent Vogtle before the NRC.

With two former Balch & Bingham attorneys now concurrently in federal prison on separate criminal convictions, the three other Vogtle co-owners, already upset with Southern over continued and costly delays, have been briefed about Balch and the sentencing of ex-Balch attorney Chase T. Espy for possession of child pornography. Also briefed were Wall Street analysts.

Alexia Borden

Southern Company chaos was also seen in a third major shuffle of executives at the utility.

This time the management changes took place at Alabama Power with the promotion of four women, including Alexia Borden, who we expect will be the next CEO of Alabama Power after stopgap appointee Jeff Peoples is ousted or forced to retire.

Borden has smartly distanced herself from her former employer, Balch & Bingham, and yesterday’s announcement affirmed the same thing she brilliantly did in 2017, refused to name Balch by name, with the announcement saying, “Prior to joining Alabama Power, Borden was a partner with a law firm in Montgomery and Birmingham.”

From prestigious to egregious, Balch is being erased.

Is Southern Company finally getting ready to erase Balch, Matrix, and “Sloppy Joe” Perkins and hand over all the hard evidence as part of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement?

We hope so.

Sex, Lies, and Photographs: Alabama Power CEO Jeff Peoples Kowtows to “Sloppy” Joe Perkins

RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

The latest question from Southern Company insiders is: When will Jeff Peoples be ousted?

The appointment in January of Jeff Peoples as Chairman and CEO of Alabama Power after Mark A. Crosswhite’s abrupt ouster during Thanksgiving week in 2022 is seen as a stopgap appointment in that Peoples, 63 at the time of his appointment, has mandatory retirement at 65 years of age.

Peoples has maintained the extremely controversial relationship with “Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the founder of Matrix, LLC, the consulting firm that engaged in alleged unethical if not criminal misconduct and whose entities received over $2.2 million a year in compensation without the need to invoice. Peoples has also kept embattled law firm Balch & Bingham on retainer.

Perkins, the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics, has been seen at the headquarters of Alabama Power allegedly acting like a miniature-sized kingpin, beaming as if he owned the place.

Over the weekend, DonaldWatkins.com released a bombshell document: handwritten notes written in 2017 from Sloppy Joe, and it shows the unbelievable entanglement of Peoples with Perkins.

Donald Watkins writes:

At this juncture, the Southern Company cannot terminate its business relationship with Joe Perkins. Why? Perkins has a mountain of documented “dirt” on Southern Company senior management executives which could result in criminal charges and jail time for many of them.

For example, the “Homewood Notes” Joe Perkins made during an April 6, 2017, meeting with a top Southern Company executive and others document part of a sophisticated, multi-state accounting fraud scheme and ongoing racketeering enterprise….

Perkins’ notes suggested that Nancy Sykes, then-Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Southern Company Services, James Gravie, then-Senior Vice President in Human Resources for Total Rewards and Technology, and Jeff Peoples, then-Executive Vice President of Customer and Employee Services at Alabama Power Company, could submit an “anonymous complaint” to the Southern Company board of directors that “would require an investigation” into the matters discussed during the April 6th meeting. According to the plan that was pitched during the meeting, they would “mention [Mark] Crosswhite in the complaint.”

Matrix used a private investigator named “Derreck (sic)” (meaning, Derek Uman) to do “research” on Kim Tananka (sic), Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning’s then-girlfriend (whose correct name is Kim Tanaka). The participants believed the anonymous complaint “need[ed] more intel” on Ms. Tanaka. Interestingly, Ms. Tanaka was an innocent party who held no position in any Southern Company business entity at the time she was targeted for clandestine surveillance activities.

Peoples never filed any such complaint with the Southern Company board of directors, or with anyone else.

The Lies…

Sloppy Joe Perkins has maintained that he was not involved in the surveillance of Tanaka or Fanning.

Alabama Media Group reported in August:

Uman, founder of Clear Capture Investigations of Gainesville, Fla., staked out Fanning’s Atlanta home and photographed him running on a wooded hill on a cul-de-sac leading to his secluded house. Uman followed and videoed Tanaka, gathered photos and billed then-Matrix CEO [Jeff] Pitts $6,881.55 for surveillance, travel, meals and more. Uman addressed the invoice to Pitts.

Uman, who said he has done lots of work for Matrix, refused to talk about the content of his investigation, saying that would be illegal. He did confirm the authenticity of the report, and said the invoice “was paid with a Matrix check that was signed by Joe Perkins.”

Perkins said most Matrix checks are signed electronically and that he believed Matrix did not pay the invoice, which was directed to Pitts.

“I have never communicated with that man,” Perkins said. “I don’t know what check he has, but I don’t sign most of the checks that come out of the companies. They are automatic signatures. That’s just untrue.”

Later, Perkins said he had staff search Matrix records for a payment to Clear Capture in that amount and found none. Nor did they find any copies of the invoice provided to AL.com.

“Let me be clear, neither I nor Matrix had anything to do with the Tanaka surveillance,” Perkins said. “The Tanaka surveillance was contracted and overseen by Jeff, without my permission or knowledge.”

The handwritten notes appear to show that Joe Perkins assigned several tasks in red ink to J.P., Jeff Pitts, Perkins’ once-protégé and the ex-CEO of Matrix.

Perkins has consistently told media that Pitts was a “rogue” employee who engaged in activities without his knowledge.

The notes appear to contradict Perkins.

Sex and Photographs…

The surveillance of Tanaka and Fanning was allegedly to obtain photographic evidence that Fanning was bisexual, according to sources familiar with the surveillance that occurred in 2017.

Photographs of Fanning having relations with a boy toy could have been used to oust him or even blackmail him to resign.

Fanning was highly vulnerable in 2017 with two Southern Company boondoggles: the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Georgia and the Kemper Project in Mississippi both of which had cost overruns in the tens of billions.

And the handwritten notes published by Watkins proves unequivocally that both boondoggles were being used to attempt to manipulate senior leadership.

In closing, we ask:

  • What other photographs capturing embarrassing moments or sexual misconduct do Matrix or related entities have or not have?
  • Why is Peoples kowtowing to Perkins?
  • Will the King & Spalding probe force both Peoples and Perkins out?

Liar, Liar, Balch on Fire!

Newsome Conspiracy Case, RICO, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

As the criminal predicated acts of the RICO enterprise are reviewed, new evidence is emerging.

The genesis of this blog was the Newsome Conspiracy Case and now a key defense in the case has been confirmed as a lie.

Repeatedly, under oath and in court pleadings, Balch & Bingham alleged they did not know who Alfred W. Seier III was.

Al Seier was the individual who pulled a gun on Burt Newsome in 2012, and declared vulgarly, “This is last time you are going to f*** with my wife!”

Newsome had spearheaded a legal collection effort against Seier’s wife Sharon Lawson.

In 2018, we uncovered explosive evidence that Balch had indeed interacted with Al Seier at least six months before the Newsome Conspiracy Case started.

We wrote at the time:

According to these public records, Alfred Seier was one of three initial members of a company called Southshore Development, LLC. Alfred Seier, who pulled a gun on Burt Newsome in January of 2012, is the late brother of alleged co-conspirator Claiborne Seier, an attorney who was handling his brother’s affairs.

And who did Southshore Development, LLC interact with in 2010 to amend their mortgage? Balch & Bingham.

And who did Southshore Development, LLC interact with in July of 2011 to provide a full release of the mortgage? Balch & Bingham.

While Balch may not have known who the principals of Southshore Development, LLC were, they indeed knew who Al Seier was, according to new evidence.

Eight months after Newsome had filed suit against Sharon Lawson, Balch filed suit against Al Seier as an individual on behalf of Compass Bank in a complicated collection effort.

Balch deceived. Balch fibbed. Balch misled. Balch lied.

Shameful! From prestigious to egregious.

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.

Resign, Svinicki, Resign! Did Ex-NRC Chair Violate Federal Law? Southern Company Board Member in Hot Water

RICO, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham

“The 30 pieces of silver given to parade you around and defend the concealment and mismanagement of Southern Company is embarrassing.”

The Southern Company Criminal RICO Enterprise has left carcasses scattered all over the place from ex-Balch & Bingham partner Clark A. Cooper to disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, from ex-Balch partner Jeffrey H. Wood to ousted ex-Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite.

Will Kristine L. Svinicki be next?

Svinicki has been called to resign her position immediately on the Southern Company Board of Directors by Civil Rights Champion Ernesto Pichardo.

Pichardo, Chairman of the CDLU’s Board of Directors, sent a brief message to Svinicki:

You should resign immediately from the board of this criminal enterprise. The 30 pieces of silver given to parade you around and defend the concealment and mismanagement of Southern Company is embarrassing. You are much better than them. You don’t need them. Resign, Ms. Svinicki, resign.

And who is Svinicki?

As DonaldWatkins.com posted last night:

On March 28, 2008, President George W. Bush appointed Ms. Kristine Svinicki as a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She served as a Commissioner under three U.S. presidents, thereby becoming the NRC’s longest-serving Commissioner.

On January 23, 2017, President Donald J. Trump appointed Ms. Svinicki as Chairwoman of the NRC. On January 20, 2021, Ms. Svinicki announced her departure from the NRC on the eve of Joe Biden’s swearing-in as the 46th president of the United States.

Ms. Svinicki has decades of public service experience with a distinguished career as a nuclear engineer and policy advisor, working at the state and federal levels of government, and in both the legislative and executive branches.

So where is the controversy? DonaldWatkins.com lays out the influence peddling:

On October 18, 2021, some ten months after she retired from the NRC, Ms. Svinicki was appointed to the board of directors of the Southern Company.

Ms. Svinicki’s board appointment appears to be a classic example of influence peddling by the parent company of Georgia Power Company and Southern Nuclear Operating Company. These Southern Company affiliates hold NRC-issued licenses as the “owner” and “operator” of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.

There are thousands of highly qualified nuclear engineers in America. There are also scores of individuals with nuclear policy advisory experience that is comparable to Ms. Svinicki’s. However, there is only one person who served as Chairperson of the NRC from 2017 to 2021.

But the real hot water is federal regulations that bar the “revolving door scenario” that Svinicki appears to have violated. DonaldWatkins.com describes the regulations.

An employee or member of a federal regulatory agency who participated personally and substantially in a particular matter involving a specific party (e.g., grants, contracts, licenses, permits, applications, litigation, etc.), may never appear before or communicate on behalf of another with any federal department, agency, or court regarding that same particular matter. See, 18 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). 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. See, 18 U.S.C. § 207(a)(2).

These post-government employment restrictions are commonly known as “revolving door” restrictions. They are designed to prevent influence peddling within federal agencies by management level employees and members of federal regulatory agencies who depart their government positions for high-paying cushy jobs with the very companies they interacted with in their capacity as government officials.

The enforcement of these lifetime and two-year restrictions is codified under federal law and the consequences could be severe. If Svinicki indeed violated federal law, the U.S. Attorney General could file criminal charges against her under 18 U.S.C. § 216:

1) Whoever engages in the conduct constituting the offense shall be imprisoned for not more than one year or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both.
 
2) Whoever willfully engages in the conduct constituting the offense shall be imprisoned for not more than five years or fined in the amount set forth in this title, or both.
 
Although Svinicki would most likely not be sent to prison, the fine is defined as a “civil penalty of not more than $50,000 for each violation or the amount of compensation which the person received or offered for the prohibited conduct.”
 

Svinicki appears to be in hot water. Boiling hot water.