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Farce and Fiction? U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town Entangled in Half-Baked Deposition
And Balch & Bingham almost got away with it. Hitting the panic button after Newsome’s legal team linked all the co-conspirators to a single wireless phone number in 2017, Balch & Bingham and their stooges put into a play what many believe was a phony, staged deposition in July of 2017 allegedly with Verizon’s top experts. Balch attempted to take a Verizon burner cell phone and magically turn it into a “router switch.” And the embattled law firm appears to have used all their political and legal connections to prevent Newsome from showing Balch and the co-conspirators had allegedly perjured…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town’s Alleged Dirty Work for Balch Exposed
In Alabama, there is no such thing as a coincidence. As observers we cannot believe the sheer stupidity of operatives who work for or are associated with the alleged unsavory conduct of Balch & Bingham or Balch’s sister-wife Alabama Power. Some of these goons think they are above the law, never to be caught or reprimanded. And the explosive, jaw-dropping photographs of U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town chugging down drinks with Alabama Power Chairman and CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch partner, confirms a dubious relationship and affirms the belief that Town’s integrity is lacking. Now Balch’s alleged Tour…
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Unindicted Masterminds? Alabama Power Briefed Regularly
The tiny environmental group GASP, the alleged intended target of the “brilliant” North Birmingham bribery scheme, is digging into the federal criminal trial evidence from 2018 meticulously. And what have they found? More evidence that appears to show that Alabama Power was being regularly briefed about the scheme. Unindicted co-conspirators or unindicted masterminds? In an email from July 2015, Balch-made millionaire Joel I. Gilbert tells his Balch colleague Steven McKinney to forward the “dues invoice” to Alabama Power’s point person, Matt Bowden, writing “we need to probably update him soon on new developments.” Is it no wonder that now, today…
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Blue Origin: Balch & Bingham’s Biggest Loss
[This post was published a year ago on February 7, 2019. Now with $25.2 billion budgeted for NASA and a piece of the pie being allocated to Blue Origin, Balch & Bingham’s Birmingham baggage appears to have truly caused a horrific loss.] The headlines in late January were a kick in the stomach: Blue Origin broke ground on a $200 million facility to build rockets in Huntsville, Alabama. Once a top Balch & Bingham D.C. lobbying client, Blue Origin bailed on Balch & Bingham in 2017 days after the indictment was handed down against then-Balch partner Joel I. Gilbert. We…
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Balch & Bingham’s Atlanta Office Could Join Mega-Merger: Troutman Pepper
They hurt. They really hurt. The embarrassing and compromising photos of Balch & Bingham’s former partner and now CEO of sister-wife Alabama Power Mark A. Crosswhite apparently paying for drinks with Birmingham’s U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town has rocked the establishment in Birmingham. Making a mockery of the legal system and affirming the feeling of blatant corruption behind closed doors, the photos illustrate why numerous, high-caliber, money-making partners with spectacular reputations have left the embattled law firm, including legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr. In recent days, Balch & Bingham has tried pathetically to put a happy face on all…
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Town and Crosswhite Mocked and Humiliated
Members of the U.S. Department of Justice are in disbelief. U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town, we are told, is rattled and in disbelief. The photos are beyond humiliating! Mocked inside the Beltway, Mountain Brook, and on Goat Hill, now comes the satirical cartoon showing how corruption is about to swallow Town and Crosswhite. And the satire does raise two serious questions: Why was Alabama Power allegedly shielded and “unmentionable” during the North Birmingham corruption trial? Why was Jeffrey Bowers, the cop son of Alabama Power retired executive Willard L. Bowers, never investigated for the alleged abuse of the color of…
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Fallout: Crosswhite Out as Chair of Business Council of Alabama
Last Tuesday, insiders at the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) gave us a heads up that something was going to happen after the jaw-dropping photographs of Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite and U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town surfaced showing them having drinks at the Moon Shine Lounge. As another observer told us vulgarly about the bombshell photographs: “No f***ing caption needed.” On Thursday, Mark A. Crosswhite was replaced as Chair of the powerful business group after only having served as chair since late 2018. The group went through turmoil in the summer of 2018 when Crosswhite successfully spearheaded the move…
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19 Years of Advocacy
Today marks the 19th anniversary of the founding of our public charity, the CDLU. The late Hortensia Magaña and K.B. Forbes founded the organization in 2001 after numerous other public charities refused, out of fear, to tackle the powerful hospital sector for price-gouging uninsured minorities. Without fear, the CDLU has vigorously fought for inherent goodness, fairness, and justice. Our organization has spurred three U.S. Congressional investigations, and countless federal, state, local, and Civil Rights probes. Even after the most heated and fierce fights, as a gesture of goodwill, we have built solid relationships with our former opponents. We are a…
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Secret Deal? Alabama Power was “Unmentionable” During Corruption Trial
The fallout over the jaw-dropping photos of Mark Crosswhite’s meeting with U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town has shattered the glass house and loosened tight lips. We learned yesterday about the alleged secret deal between Alabama Power and Town: During the criminal trial of Balch & Bingham partner Joel I. Gilbert and Drummond executive David Roberson in July of 2018, criminal defense attorneys were allegedly instructed not to mention Alabama Power or their ties to the money laundering entity Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) without first clearing it with Alabama Power’s criminal attorney. The secret deal is an absolute…
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Newsome Conspiracy Case, North Birmingham Bribery Case, Southern Company, Spotlight on Balch & Bingham
Jaw-Dropping Photos: Mark A. Crosswhite’s Meeting with U.S. Attorney Rocks Alabama Power
Stuffed in an unmarked, unlabeled manila envelope, several 8 X 10 photos appear to confirm what ex-Drummond Company Executive and “fall guy” David Roberson has repeatedly declared: Before Roberson was indicted, his friend Mike Cole had told Roberson that Cole and Alabama Power’s CEO Mark A. Crosswhite had a meeting with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, Jay E. Town. Crosswhite was attempting to allegedly quash the prosecution of anyone who had been accused of bribing disgraced politician Oliver Robinson. Town allegedly replied that he was confirmed too late to kill the North Birmingham Bribery prosecution and…
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Free-Falling: Balch Eyed by Competitors; More Defections Coming?
Like vultures, the competitors of Balch & Bingham are eyeing specific practice groups and talent at the embattled firm, ready to scoop up veteran partners and money-makers. Hiring the best and brightest, competitors may begin to target Balch’s satellite offices in other states and pick up some terrific talent like Richard E. Glaze who left Bach’s Atlanta office in September. Last week’s major, earth-shattering defection of Balch legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr. and three of his money-making colleagues to a law firm based in Nashville, Tennessee, Balch appears to have lost top veterans in their finance and real estate…
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Ruining a Rival becomes Ruining Themselves
[This post originally appeared on January 15, 2018. With the recent departure of Balch & Bingham’s first-ever Chief Compliance Officer Steve Feaga, and legacy partner Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr. and three other money-making partners, this post has become even more relevant.] As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we remember the struggles for equality in the decade of the 1960s. We also recall the Alabama Supreme Court decision from 1961 which Balch & Bingham used to justify their unconscionable interference in Burt Newsome’s livelihood. In their 2016 amended motion for summary judgment, Balch wrote that the “Alabama Supreme…
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Shock: Balch’s First-Ever Chief Compliance Officer Out
Stephen P. Feaga, a pillar of integrity who had served the Deputy Director of Enforcement and Litigation at the Alabama Securities Commission before joining Balch & Bingham in 2018, has left the embattled firm. He was Balch’s first-ever Chief Compliance Officer. Some may ask: If a law firm refuses to comply with “the highest ethical standards” and “best business practices,” what good is a chief compliance officer? Although extremely disappointed that Feaga, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney, was mostly silent these past two years, we believe his hiring by Balch was nothing more than window dressing. Last year, revelations and…
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No Rx Coverage: Drummond’s Horrific Betrayal
After David Roberson, the Vice President of Government Affairs at Drummond Company, was convicted allegedly because of Balch & Bingham’s untruthful legal advice, Drummond issued a public statement calling him a “man of integrity” and vowed to support him. Behind closed doors, Drummond allegedly promised to provide Roberson with legal representation, full-salary compensation, and health benefits until his appeal process was completed. Instead, David Roberson was fired last February. We learned that his healthcare benefits were terminated and now his family has to pay thousands of dollars for prescription drugs. After selling the family home, organizing an estate sale, liquidating…
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Crippling Blow: Vogtle and Three Seasoned Partners Leave Balch & Bingham
A crippling blow: Jesse S. Vogtle, Jr., the long-time Balch & Bingham partner, and three of his fellow partners have left the embattled firm, according to a report this late afternoon in the Birmingham Business Journal. Vogtle symbolized the longtime relationship between Alabama Power and Balch & Bingham. Vogtle was at Balch for over 31 years and has now joined Nashville-based Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP along with his colleagues Randolph H. Lanier, Eric T. Ray, and Paul H. Greenwood. Vogtle’s grandfather, Alvin W. Vogtle, had been the Chairman and President of Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company, before…
