Exactly one year ago, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein appointed Robert S. Mueller III as Special Counsel to the U.S. Department of Justice.

When the news broke, we scrambled to get in touch with the Office of “Bobby Three Sticks,” as he is affectionately known in D.C. circles.

Communicating with Rosenstein’s office, we were finally told the next day to fax everything through them since Mr. Mueller’s office had not officially been set up yet.

On May 18th, we were one of the first groups to send Mueller an 18-page fax that included attached documents, evidence, and website posts.

In July of last year, as the Executive Director of the CDLU sat inside the Piazza Vecchio taking care of his 8-month old baby, Mueller’s office called thanking him for CDLU’s faxes and gave him a new dedicated email address for all future correspondence.

We will continue to work with law enforcement and Civil Rights advocates until justice prevails.

Balch & Bingham may still think they are winning in their make-believe sand box, but a secretive Star Chamber, criminal indictments, questionable “contributions,” a mass exodus of money-making partners, and alleged racism seem to show they could be sitting in a fatal mix of hubris and quick sand.

The Office of the Special Counsel will maintain the independence to investigate Jeff Sessions’ closet allies.

We wrote a post last year that the Office of the Special Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice has the power to investigate “any crimes that he might discover.”

Paul Manafort, the indicted former Trump campaign manager, has argued that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein had exceeded his authority. A federal judge rejected the argument yesterday.

According to The Washington Post:

Manafort’s attorneys have argued that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein acted improperly when he appointed Mueller in May 2017 to investigate not only collusion with Russia but any other issues that “may arise” from that investigation.

In her opinion, [Judge Amy Berman] Jackson rejected those arguments.

Jackson said the regulations are not meant to allow investigation targets to use them to challenge criminal charges, but are intended to provide independence and accountability in sensitive investigations, giving a special counsel wide discretion while requiring department consultation and approval, which she said was done.

In March, we wrote to Rosenstein directly, calling on him not to fire Mueller as  John M. Dowd, President Trump’s lead counsel in the Special Counsel investigation, had suggested. We also outlined the allegations against Balch & Bingham and wrote:

We want to reemphasize that Balch & Bingham is entrenched politically in Alabama and has supported every major elected-official from the state, including former U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions. Balch thought they were immune until the federal indictments were handed down in September by [U.S. Attorney Jay E.] Town.

Their hubris is still strong. Last month, we uncovered the fact that the indicted partner Joel Gilbert was still on Balch & Bingham’s payroll as of December 30, 2017, even though he had been suspended indefinitely.

You cannot let this alleged unscrupulous, egregious, and what appears to be criminal behavior go uninvestigated.  The Office of the Special Counsel will maintain the independence to investigate Jeff Sessions’ closet allies.

Ironically, Dowd resigned days after his foolish suggestion.

Late last night, The New York Times posted a bombshell story after obtaining questions that Robert S. Mueller III, Special Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, wants to ask President Trump including:

“What discussions did you have during the campaign regarding Russian sanctions?”

The New York Times writes, “Even as the Obama administration stepped up sanctions on Russia, Mr. Trump struck a laudatory tone toward Mr. Putin.”

We remind our readers that in November of 2015, Balch & Bingham successfully changed Russian sanctions on behalf of AAL USA, Inc. a/k/a Black Hall Aerospace, Inc., a Russian-linked aerospace company based in Huntsville, Alabama. The owner of AAL USA, Inc. is Soviet-immigrant Oleg Sirbu.

Three months later, in late February of 2016, then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions was planning to endorse Donald Trump at Black Hall Aerospace, but the venue was changed at the last minute due to crowd size and security concerns, according to local media.

Embattled law firm Balch & Bingham was Jeff Sessions’ number two lifetime donor when he was a U.S. Senator, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

A year later, on  March 2, 2017, Balch & Bingham scrubbed their website of any references to successfully changing Russian sanctions, the same day as U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russian probe.

The website scrub not only created a cover-up, it magnified to what lengths Balch would go to sugar-coat the past.

In January, the CDLU received an evening phone call from a top investigator at Mueller’s Office. We also recently learned that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Command is probing Black Hall Aerospace a/k/a AAL USA, Inc.

Oleg Sirbu and the current corporate management team at Black Hall are in the middle of a legal fight over ownership and control of assets.

So did Sessions talk to Mueller about the Russians in his backyard and his cozy relationship with Balch & Bingham?

Balch & Bingham’s relationship with and lobbying efforts on behalf of Russian-linked, Huntsville-based aerospace company Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc. may be under a growing microscope.

In November of 2015, Balch successfully had Russian sanctions changed on behalf of Black Hall.  As published, the sanctions “shall not apply to subcontracts at any tier with ROE and any successor, sub-unit, or subsidiary thereof made on behalf of the United States Government for goods, technology, and services for the maintenance, repair, overhaul, or sustainment of Mi-17 helicopters….”

ROE is the state-owned Russian defense conglomerate.

According to our conversation with Thomas M. Countryman, the former U.S. Department of State official who drafted that exemption, the decision to make those changes to Russian sanctions came from either the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, State, or Defense.

As U.S. Senator, Jeff Sessions was a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and had a close relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Balch was Sessions #2 lifetime contributor when he was U.S. Senator, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Did he or his staff lobby to have Russian sanctions changed directly with DOD after meeting with Balch lobbyists?   Did Jeff Sessions or his staff ever meet with Soviet-born immigrant Oleg Sirbu, the owner of Black Hall, or his management team? Did Sessions or his staff open doors at DOD for Black Hall Aerospace or their lobbyists?

Exactly three months and three days after the publication of those changed sanctions, Sessions endorsed President Trump.  Originally the backdrop was going to be at Black Hall, but was changed due to crowd size.

How was that original venue chosen? Who made the decision? What favors were they seeking?

As we mentioned before, Balch scrubbed their website of their success in changing the sanctions. Worse, Balch appears to have lied about their relationship with Black Hall Aerospace to Politico.com.

Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc. was allegedly once a subsidiary of AAL Group, Ltd. which is certified by Mil Helicopters (below).

Talk about tangled affairs: Mil Helicopters was merged into Russian Helicopters, which is owned by the Oboronprom holding company, which is a subsidiary of Rostec, the state-owned not-for-profit with numerous holding companies and hundreds of entities under its belt, including ROE.

The number of website sessions yesterday was record breaking for us. The interest in the troubles and alleged unsavory conduct of Balch & Bingham has skyrocketed. Thank you for your readership.

Now comes the breaking news story of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions undergoing hours of questioning last week by the Office of the Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, according to The New York Times.

Interestingly, Mueller’s office called us on the night of January 11, 2018. We briefed them on the latest developments of  the key figure in the Russian Sanctions scandal: Balch & Bingham’s former client, Russian-linked aerospace company Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc.

Did Sessions divulge his relationship with Balch & Bingham? Did he talk about why Black Hall Aerospace was chosen as the original venue for his endorsement of the President? Did Sessions outline why Balch scrubbed their website on the same day he recused himself on the Russian matter?

[Update: In January of 2020, Stephen Feaga  left the embattled firm. Click here to read more.]

As the more we learn about Balch & Bingham’s new and first-ever Chief Compliance Officer Steve Feaga, the more we like what we hear. We truly wish him the best to save the firm from the year of embarrassing troubles.

We recently communicated at length with the office of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and outlined numerous recent developments not only with the Russian-linked aerospace company, Black Hall Aerospace. Inc. a/k/a AAL USA Inc., but even about the coincidental, first-time “contributions” to State Senator Rodger Smitherman.

As we have mentioned before, Mueller has the right to investigate, any matter that arises from the investigation of Russian links or coordination during  the 2016 presidential election. (Read the order here.)

With all the noise, the most important aspect of our Russian investigation is this:

When then-U.S. Senator Sessions was to endorse Donald J. Trump for President on February 28, 2016, according to media reports the rally “was scheduled to be held at Black Hall Aerospace on Wall Triana Highway at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. But campaign officials met with the city and Huntsville police… to discuss alternative sites for the large crowd expected.” The venue was changed at the last moment.

Mueller’s team needs to find out: Who made that initial decision? What favors were they trying to obtain? What joint political goals were those involved seeking?

Balch successfully changed Russian sanctions for Black Hall Aerospace in 2015 and then scrubbed their website last March after we exposed them.  We have asked repeatedly: What was Balch hiding?

Black Hall Aerospace is currently in the middle of an ugly legal fight between the Soviet-born owner Oleg Sirbu and a U.S. management team that is accused of allegedly diverting $3.2 million of corporate assets to purchase among other things a house, an airplane, and a coffee house.

During the 2016 election cycle, then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions was to endorse Trump at the Russian-linked aerospace company tied to Balch & Bingham.

For months we have been providing the Office of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III with detailed information about the alleged scurrilous, unscrupulous, and questionable actions by Balch & Bingham and associates.

The Washington Post reported Sunday:

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said Sunday that the expanding investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is continuing apace ….[and that] special counsel Robert S. Mueller III can investigate any crimes that he might discover within the scope of his probe, but the deputy attorney general would not discuss which individuals are the subject of their inquiry.

We first wrote to Mr. Mueller to ask him to look into the website scrub by Balch in relationship to a Russian-linked aerospace company, Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc.

During the 2016 election cycle, then-U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions was to endorse Trump at the Russian-linked aerospace company tied to Balch & Bingham. But according to media reports at the time,  the venue was changed at the last minute due to crowd size.

Very important to note:  Balch & Bingham was U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ #2 lifetime donor as U.S. Senator

About two weeks after we publicized the fact that Balch had boasted about successfully changing the Russia sanctions for Black Hall Aerospace, their lobbying client, Balch scrubbed their website and top-lobbyist’s resume of any references to the Russia sanctions.

We have been asked, “Why did you take a screenshot of the website?” (Screenshot pictured above.)

Our answer is simple: After seeing what Balch and others had allegedly done against Burt Newsome, we did not want to be a victim of unscrupulous or scurrilous actions.

The website scrub by Balch not only created a cover-up, it magnified to what lengths Balch would go to sugar-coat the past.

A few months later, Balch attempted to deceive Politico.com about their continued ties to Black Hall Aerospace.

We have asked Mueller to also look at Black Hall Aerospace directly. The revenue growth at the Russian-linked aerospace company has been enormous and raises serious concerns and questions.

According to an online publication, the Russian-linked company, AAL USA, Inc. and/or Black Hall Aerospace, Inc., went from generating $6.5 million in 2014 with 15 employees, to over an estimated $100 million in 2016 with 450 employees.  

Likewise, according to a court filing, AAL USA Inc. had less than $1 million in revenue with fewer than 20 employees in 2014 but grew to over 400 employees and $50 million in revenue by 2016.

One of things Black Hall Aerospace boasts about is their FAA Part 145 Repair Station. But according to the government website, they have only two mechanics (only one mechanic up to this past spring).  Comparable companies have a half dozen to a dozen mechanics and numerous repairmen. This raises further questions.

We hope Mueller takes an even closer look at the numbers and where the money went.