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A year later, Balch Partners Headed to Criminal Trial
Today marks one year since Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Archibald and Kyle Whitmire of the Alabama Media Group broke the story about the Oliver Robinson bribery scandal. Now for an update. The indicted Balch & Bingham partners, Steven McKinney and Joel I. Gilbert, lost a preliminary court fight, and will head to a criminal jury trial next month. Bloomberg reported this week: A jury will decide whether a corporate executive and two Alabama lawyers bribed a state legislator to head off a company’s Superfund liability, a federal court in Alabama ruled May 4. The defendants allegedly sought to forestall potential…
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Will Marathon and Northern Star Provide a Voice?
With Southern Company apparently violating its own compliance policy while being engulfed in a grave third-party risk crisis because of their sister-wife relationship with Balch & Bingham (only two weeks before their annual shareholders meeting), we reached out yesterday to two of Balch & Bingham’s most profitable D.C. lobbying clients for 2018: Marathon Petroleum and Northern Star Generation. We outlined the indictment of two Balch partners, the suppression of African-Americans in North Birmingham, the false arrest of Burt Newsome, and other alleged unsavory conduct by the silk-stocking law firm. Similar to our message to other Balch clients last June, we…
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Stupidity at its Highest
Today marks the one year anniversary when Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., the lead attorney and Balch & Bingham partner in the Newsome Conspiracy Case, lied about us, the CDLU, in a motion to seal all future depositions. Stupidity at its highest, Schuyler demonstrated unequivocally that he did not know us and gave us, an outside party, instant credibility. Since 2001, our organization has spurred three U.S. Congressional hearings, and numerous local, state, and civil rights investigations. We have worked closely with law enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Treasury Department to…
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Southern Company and the Third Party Tidal Wave
Our hottest two posts read on Wall Street and in Washington, DC in the past week have been about Southern Company and the third party risk of Balch and Bingham. The reality is severely regulated companies like Southern Company cannot afford to have a third-party vendor that engages in alleged unscrupulous, racist, or criminal activities. The alleged actions by Balch & Bingham go beyond a breach of a database; they are legal representatives of the utility that appear to have manipulated the legal and political system dishonestly. Although another piece of satirical art, the point is Tom Fanning, the CEO…
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250 Days of Darkness and the Mouse that Roared in Silence
Today marks 250 days since Judge Carole Smitherman created the unconstitutional and secretive Star Chamber to allegedly shield Balch & Bingham from public exposure in the horrific Newsome Conspiracy Case. We actually feel sorry for Schuyler Allen Baker, Jr., the lead Balch & Bingham attorney on the case, who fought for the foolish Star Chamber at the height, the peak of two federal probes. Really, what in the hell was he thinking? We have called the Star Chamber and the questionable and “coincidental” contributions to Judge Smitherman and her husband Alabama State Senator Rodger Smitherman Balch’s Waterloo. Balch’s Waterloo saw…
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RICO Suit and No Confidence at Southern Company
The legal team representing Burt Newsome, the sole-practitioner attorney that was allegedly wrongly targeted, falsely arrested, and defamed in an alleged conspiracy spearheaded by a Balch & Bingham partner, has met with prominent and respected RICO attorneys outside Alabama, including a former U.S. Attorney whose “mouth-dropped” by the alleged criminal behavior, according to anonymous sources. As Southern Company has gravely ignored the third-party risk of Balch & Bingham, a federal RICO lawsuit could expose internal misconduct, liabilities and other risks to shareholders. One focus would be on the alleged criminal obstruction of justice and alleged alteration of evidence by attorney…
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Part 5: Alabama Power Sweetens Smitherman
The CDLU has investigated, written about, and exposed, not one, two, or three other questionable “contributions” but four in total so far to State Senator Rodger Smitherman, the husband of Judge Carole Smitherman, the Queen of the Star Chamber. Alabama Power’s donation, the fifth questionable contribution, was held under wraps as a courtesy to Tom Fanning, the CEO of Southern Company who called us in November. The donation was the first one made in this “series” of “coincidental” contributions. As we told the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. in January while providing the affirming documentation: Alabama Power provided…
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Pillar of Integrity: Balch & Bingham’s Stephen Feaga
[Update: In January of 2020, Stephen Feaga left the embattled firm. Click here to read more.] When Balch & Bingham announced their first-ever Chief Compliance Officer, Stephen Feaga, we applauded the firm’s decision with high praise and kudos. And we still do. Although Feaga has been quietly working in the background for almost five months, we have spoken to people in the the legal community, law enforcement officials, and esteemed members of the media, and the conclusion is always the same: Feaga is a pillar of integrity. Before he joined Balch, Feaga was the Deputy Director of Enforcement and Litigation…
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Third-Party Risk: Drummond’s Defense; Southern Company’s Failure
Even a jury will understand that doesn’t sound like professional legal services, does it? Regardless of how one feels about the coal industry, electric utility sector, pollution, or the environment, the issue that will rise to the front of the madness of the alleged suppression of African-Americans in North Birmingham will be the Third-Party Risk of Balch & Bingham. For Drummond and its indicted executive, David Roberson, Third-Party Risk could be a key defense in his criminal trial which is to proceed next month. For Southern Company, if they continue to remain silent, Third-Party Risk management (or mismanagement) will be…
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HealthSouth Terminates Balch as DC Lobbyists
Politico.com reports that HealthSouth Corporation (now called Encompass Health), the largest rehabilitation services company in the nation, has terminated Balch & Bingham as their DC lobbyists. This is earth-shattering news in Birmingham, as Encompass Health is one of the top companies in the region. The hemorrhaging at Balch continues. Last June, the office of Encompass CEO Mark Tarr asked us to email Patrick Darby, General Counsel at Encompass, and Justin Hunter, Vice-President of Public Policy, immediately and directly. We did. We encouraged them to call on Balch & Bingham to change their alleged unscrupulous and criminal behavior. Today we told…
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Did Balch & Bingham’s Deception Lead to OIG Probe?
Our high-level sources confirmed yesterday evening that the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Defense is looking at Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc., the Russian-linked aerospace company for which Balch & Bingham had successfully changed Russian sanctions. We hope the OIG takes a deeper look at Balch & Bingham’s influence peddling in Washington, DC on behalf of Black Hall Aerospace. In May of 2017, Balch & Bingham appears to have deceived the public and Politico.com about their relationship with the Russian-linked company owned by Oleg Sirbu, a Soviet-immigrant who lives in Dubai. Politico.com reported then that…
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Special Counsel Eyes Russian Sanctions
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…
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Did Southern Company Dump Balch as their DC Lobbyists?
In January, we reported how 2017 was a bad lobbying year in Washington, DC for Balch & Bingham who lost half of their paying clients, and one of their top lobbyists in October. Now, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Balch appears to be faring worse: only generating $130,000 in fees as of April 24, 2018. The most interesting news is that Southern Company and its subsidiary Alabama Power are no longer using Balch & Bingham for lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill as of 2016.
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Southern Company’s 5 Seconds of Silence Turns Into Loud Explosion
“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.'” The Root In our call with Jim Kerr, the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Southern Company, after he said that Southern would do nothing about holding Balch & Bingham accountable for alleged unscrupulous and racist conduct, we asked him directly about the Jeffrey H. Wood matter. Jeffrey H. Wood was a lobbyist for Balch & Bingham and was lobbying on Capitol Hill in 2016 about the North Birmingham EPA matter…
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Will Southern Company Take a Stand Against Racism?
“…Should [Balch & Bingham] have the right to suppress African-Americans? You think that’s okay? I’m asking you point blank, do you think it’s okay? Do you find it morally repugnant or not Jim? Come on take a stand!“— CDLU to Southern Company’s Chief Compliance Officer Jim Kerr on phone call. With an annual shareholders meeting less than a month away, will Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning remain silent or show true leadership? When Jim Kerr, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Southern, called us in mid-January to say Southern would do nothing to hold Balch & Bingham accountable for…
