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.

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.

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?

“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:

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

Not a peep about the numerous victims who have lodged criminal RICO complaints against Southern Company with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Not a cheep about the demand for evidentiary hearings by RICO victims and the possible license revocation of Southern Company by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Not a chirp about the Matrix Meltdown and hiring of King & Spalding last year to conduct a deep internal criminal probe and secure a deferred prosecution agreement.

Not a chitter about the coming civil RICO lawsuits or law enforcement investigations including the $8.4 million settlement in December with the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged fraud and false claims in Puerto Rico by a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company.

The earnings call yesterday was a spectacle of concealment.

As DonaldWatkins.com noted today:

Strangely, the Southern Company’s pattern and practice of concealing adverse information of a material nature from its shareholders and Wall Street analysts paves the way for the company to join the ranks of Enron, Worldcom, HealthSouth, and other publicly trade companies that engaged in similar corporate concealment conduct since 2003.

Nothing good ever comes out of corporate concealment conduct where there is a duty to timely disclose material events of an adverse nature.

Besides the concealment, the earnings call revealed that yet again the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant will be delayed a couple more months at an estimated cost of $200 million.

And who will pay for the boondoggle delays?

Rate payers of course.

The Associated Press reports:

Ratepayers at Georgia Power and some cooperatives served by Oglethorpe are already paying for Vogtle, and most electric customers in Georgia, as well as in parts of Alabama and Florida, will eventually be charged.

Last year, the Alabama Public Service Commission rubber stamped three Alabama Power rate increases with no debate, no thought whatsoever.

The $400 million generated annually by the rate increases in Alabama will easily pay for Vogtle’s cost overruns and the estimated $345 million in litigation settlement costs with two co-operators of Vogtle (Oglethorpe Power and Dalton Utilities) who have sued Southern Company.

The public is outraged by higher utility bills, and will now clearly see the facade, the concealment, and the deception.

Yesterday before Southern Company’s earnings call, CDLU Chairman Ernesto Pichardo called on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revoke and suspend all licenses granted to Southern Company, including those tied to the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, calling the company’s racketeer influenced and criminal organization a “national security threat.”

“At a minimum, the NRC should hold evidentiary hearings. Ironically or intentionally, Southern Company is represented by Balch & Bingham before the NRC. A former Balch partner who represented Southern is sitting in federal prison for money laundering and bribery, while another ex-Balch attorney who represented Southern will be sentenced next month for possession of graphic and repulsive kiddie porn,” noted Pichardo.

Southern Company is indeed bruised and battered.

Randall Woodfin, the embattled Mayor of the City of Birmingham, who made $1.8 million magically disappear in “legal advertising,” had an emergency crisis meeting with his most trusted advisors to allegedly try to cover up and block a federal investigation into corruption and embezzlement, sources claim.

Sources also claim Woodfin advisors approached Alabama Power to see if the utility could intervene and use their high level contacts to block or slow down the probe.

Alabama Power allegedly refused, due to the fact that their parent company (Southern Company) is attempting to secure a federal deferred prosecution agreement and is under intense scrutiny at the moment, in addition to a quarterly earnings call to take place tomorrow.

Magician Woodfin appears to be another political puppet who was propped up by Alabama Power, Balch & Bingham, and the entire Southern Company criminal RICO enterprise.

The largest transaction in the alleged theft was for $1.14 million on August 20, 2020 for a batch of past due invoices for “legal advertising.”

The money was deposited with JJ Lewis Investments, LLC and not with the Birmingham Times Media Group.

The Birmingham Times hasn’t run digital legal advertising since 2017, as outlined in our investigative report last month.

Sources claim that Woodfin and team are allegedly attempting to cover-up the theft by blaming a now-former JJ Lewis Investments employee, who was abruptly let go after our report, and other sources claim has since become a federal witness.

Scrutiny of Southern Company and their criminal RICO enterprise has increased as multiple victims have lodged formal criminal complaints and provided damning evidence to the U.S. Department of Justice in recent weeks.

Abracadabra!

The criminal RICO enterprise, involving Southern Company (and its subsidiaries), Balch & Bingham, Matrix LLC, and others, has made the operation of the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant by Southern Company a liability and risk to national security.

In a letter dispatched to the three other joint operators of Vogtle Nuclear Reactors 3 and 4, Civil Rights champion Ernesto Pichardo, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CDLU, wrote, “Frankly speaking, we are not against nuclear energy, nor are we opposed to the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant. Our opposition is to Southern Company, a racketeer influenced and criminal organization, that should have no business running nuclear power plants in the United States.”

The three other joint operators are Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. Pichardo also let the trio know that Southern Company had hired King & Spalding last year to conduct a deep internal criminal probe.

The reception to the Pichardo’s letter insiders tell us was warmly received. The other joint operators appear to despise Southern Company whose mismanagement has delayed the project by six years with cost overruns of $16 billion.

Pichardo’s letter included attached articles about the ouster of Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, the abrupt resignation of disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, and the guilty plea of registered sex offender and ex-Balch attorney Chase T. Espy for possession of kiddie porn.

Pichardo closed his letter, saying, “There is a lot to read but the facts speak for themselves: Southern Company is unfit to run Vogtle.“

The letter comes on the heels on multiple complaints to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice about Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise and misconduct.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently reviewing the misconduct and criminal acts affiliated with the criminal enterprise.

While Southern Company attempts to obtain a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Southern Company could be removed or ousted as operator of Vogtle.

Some cannot believe this scenario and they are the same ones who couldn’t believe that the “most powerful man in Alabama” Mark A. Crosswhite would ever be ousted.