The $318,000 spent by Southern Company in the summer of 2020 was to pay multiple stooges to allegedly attack and impede the individual and Civil Rights of the Hispanic Family of K.B. Forbes, our Chief Executive Officer, who is the son of a Latino immigrant, in an orchestrated campaign of fear and intimidation.

The start of that Southern Company campaign was to hire rabble-rouser Carlos M. Chaverst, Jr., to attack Forbes and allegedly create a race war between African Americans and Hispanics.

Chaverst, a well-known activist who is allegedly racist and anti-cop, shot the first salvo in the Southern Company campaign that utterly backfired.

On July 2, 2020, Chaverst posted a Facebook Live video where he called Forbes a “racist white man” and WYPIPO, while using other, more graphic vulgarities in a now deleted profile.

That summer, Chaverst was arrested by three different law enforcement agencies for numerous outstanding warrants and alleged criminal acts, including inciting a riot.

Shortly thereafter, in the winter of 2021, Chaverst allegedly relocated to Colorado, where toking marijuana is legal, and launched a media production platform.

Now, this week, Chaverst reappeared in Birmingham, as “a public relations representative for Rep. John Rogers” who has been indicted for obstruction and bribery.

Alabama Media Group (AL.com) reports:

A federal grand jury in September charged Rogers, D-Birmingham, with obstruction of justice and obstruction of justice by bribery, alleging that he offered public money to the founder of a nonprofit in exchange for the founder lying to the FBI about a kickback scheme involving public tax dollars.

AL.com also published the photo (above, on top of this post) with this caption:

Carlos Chaverst (left), a public relations representative for Rep. John Rogers, and Varrie Johnson Kindall (right), who has also been indicted in the same case as Rogers, leaving the federal courthouse after Rogers’ hearing on Oct. 30. (Hannah Denham / hdenham@al.com)AL.com

Southern Company has paid millions to Joe Perkins and his affiliated entities including Matrix, LLC.

Matrix, LLC, in turn paid obscure entities, envelope journalists, and individuals to allegedly conduct surveillance operations, viciously harass minorities, and smear perceived enemies, like K.B. Forbes, Burt Newsome and their families.

The Forbes family, which was targeted and harassed by Southern Company, was forced to flee their home in Birmingham, and arrived abruptly that summer of 2020 to Mexico.

Even the FBI, usually tight lipped, wrote they were “glad” Forbes and his family were safe in Mexico, after Burt Newsome was nearly killed in a head-on collision.

With the shooting of a .22 caliber projectile into the rear bedroom window of Forbes’ home this past September, law enforcement is well aware of Chaverst and his past involvement in Southern Company’s campaign of fear and intimidation against the Forbes family.

Chaverst has repeatedly attacked and allegedly smeared law enforcement agencies since 2018. He also is affiliated with Frank Matthews, a Southern Company stooge and antisemite booster, who was paid thousands of dollars to allegedly attack the CDLU and publicize a smear website against Newsome and Forbes paid for by Southern Company.

Chaverst appears to be no friend of law and order, and allegedly sold his “public relations” efforts for 30 pieces of silver to Southern Company goons in the summer of 2020.

Ironically, Alabama Power, a Southern Company subsidiary, donated $6,000 directly to indicted politician John Rogers and thousands more through affiliated political action committees.

And here comes Carlos as his mouthpiece, direct from Colorado, where marijuana, the burning weed with its roots in hell, is legal.

Southern Company should be coughing and choking from the smell and smoke of that thick doobie!

A headline story in Law.com rocked the legal community in 2021. A respected law firm came under fire for conducting illegal surveillance and video recording of a woman and her family. Law.com reported:

The long-lived, knotty personal injury case that … ultimately settled for $11 million has spun off yet more litigation, with a new complaint accusing Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, American Family Insurance and a local private investigation company of illegally surveilling and video-recording the plaintiff and her family.

Fittingly, the new complaint seeks big money: more than $13.1 billion and change in punitive damages. Plus attorney fees.  

The allegations in the Baker lawsuit are minimal compared to the illegal surveillance, alleged criminal acts, and campaign of fear and intimidation orchestrated by Southern Company and their paid stooges against us, the CDLU, the Newsome Family, and the Forbes Family.

In June, Southern Company admitted that they paid for and conducted a surveillance effort against their Chairman Tom Fanning and his then-girlfriend in 2017.

The company foolishly told The Wall Street Journal that they did not know who authorized the surveillance effort or for what purpose.

Like AmFam, Southern Company apparently targeted young children.

Southern Company paid a vendor to target and harass the Newsome Family, including Newsome’s four young children.

Jeff Peoples, Chief Executive Officer at Alabama Power, signed off on an “extra work authorization” in 2018 paying obscure political consultant “Sloppy” Joe Perkins an additional $39,300 on top of the secret multi-million-dollar annual contracts his firms received.

And what was the $39,300 allegedly for? For “transportation organization management” according to the document, but a blatant lie, Southern Company insiders confirmed.

Besides sending a threatening package of travel bags and outfits, Southern Company stooges conducted a surveillance effort against Newsome, his wife, and children.

The Newsomes were followed, spied on, and trailed throughout Birmingham, including to a point where Newsome’s wife saw her car broken into and windows smashed, in a targeted smash-and-run.

A Southern Company goon verbally abused Newsome’s wife at one point.

A stolen credit card obtained from the break in of Newsome’s wife car was used in the purchase of the travel bags and outfits.

Zeke Smith, Alabama Power Executive Vice President for External Affairs, authorized over $318,000 in expenditures during a seven-week period in the summer of 2020 in a campaign of fear and intimidation against the Newsome and the Forbes families, according to anonymously received documents.

K.B. Forbes, CDLU’s Chief Executive Officer, and his wife and two young daughters were targeted.

The campaign included surveillance and harassment efforts of the Forbes Family.

The terror and harassment included multiple phone calls to Forbes’ wife, one demanding to know her location, another asking if she was at home, and a third offering to “drop off a package.”

Foolishly, brain amputee Josh Moon, a disgraced former journalist and failed realtor, showed up at CDLU’s then-headquarters demanding information, and providing a false name and cell phone number one digit off from his real cell number (what an idiot!).

Moon and his colleagues at Alabama Political Reporter were paid $120,000 by Southern Company, that was authorized by Zeke Smith, to viciously attack and harass us, the CDLU, the Newsome family, and the Forbes family.

Moon apparently was surveilling our headquarters and allegedly drove in front of the Forbes household, where a pick-up truck matching his truck’s description was captured on security cameras.

A judge refused to dismiss the case against Baker Donelson in April of 2022 and it was resolved and settled in May of this year.

In the pleadings against Baker Donelson and AmFam, the complaint states:

[The] Baker Donelson Defendants and the AmFam Defendants hired, retained, paid, directed, instructed, and supervised the Martinelli Investigations Defendants in an unlawful investigation and unlawful surveillance of Plaintiff and subsequently ratified the criminal and tortious conduct….

One thing Southern Company unequivocally knows is that their executives (Crosswhite, Peoples, Smith, etc.) hired, retained, paid, directed, instructed, and supervised Matrix, Balch & Bingham, Joe Perkins, Mark White, and others to allegedly investigate, harass, intimidate, and engage in surveillance of Newsome, Forbes, and the CDLU.

Sources claim Newsome’s legal team is putting the final touches on a somewhat similar pleading, preparing to move ahead with a massive lawsuit against Southern Company, Matrix, LLC, and their other stooges, asking for similar damages.

Two years ago, after opening a new office in Austin, Balch predicted they would grow to 25 to 30 attorneys in the Lone Star State.

Balch crowed that they had seven lawyers in Houston in a news report published that June of 2021.

Now, today, Balch has been decimated and only three lawyers remain in Houston, with one of them actually based in Birmingham.

From seven to three.

Balch’s total number of attorneys in the Lone Star State is in the single digits, nowhere near 25 or 30.

What a humiliating debacle!

Cherry-picking the best of the best, Balch’s competitors appear to have ravaged the once prestigious law firm.

As we reported last week, Bradley picked up three of them: Balch’s Houston Office Managing Partner and two top minority attorneys who fled Balch’s Houston office earlier this summer.

Now we’ve learned that the fourth attorney to dump Balch in Houston was partner J. Eric Holland, who escaped to Duane Morris.

Duane Morris stated in a news release, “Our practice group continues to advance and prosper,” said Brian P. Kerwin, chair of Duane Morris’ Corporate Practice Group. “Eric’s background continues to bolster our fund formation capabilities, which is a powerhouse offering to our clients.”

Competitors appear to be advancing and prospering in Texas, while Balch is not.

Who else at Balch & Bingham is dusting off their resume? What carrots are being offered to other lawyers at Balch’s satellite offices?

The undisputed fact is that the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, the Newsome Conspiracy Case, the Elderly Exploitation Scandal, the Matrix Meltdown, and Southern Company’s “fear and intimidation” campaigns appear to have taken their toll and permanently damaged Balch & Bingham’s reputation.

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and indeed, Balch appears to be the biggest losers.