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Another Russian-linked Website Scrub
Are federal investigators finally scrutinizing Balch’s client Black Hall Aerospace, Inc. a/k/a AAL USA, Inc., the Russian-linked aerospace company tied to Soviet immigrant Oleg Sirbu? In February, when the CDLU met with Sirbu’s attorneys Benjamin Coulter and Victor Hayslip, we were baffled why Sirbu had not gone to criminal investigators at the FBI. Allegedly U.S. management had stolen corporate assets and wrongfully spent corporate resources on personal items, including a home, an airplane, and a coffee bar. That looked like embezzlement to us. The response had that unusually moment of silence and then a pivot to a discussion about the…
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Balch Must Dismantle Corrupt Star Chamber
Vowing to make sure all partners and staff “are adhering to the highest standards of legal and ethical compliance,” Balch & Bingham leaders now need to engage in critical and concrete steps to show that their words are not fluff, public relations hot air. First and foremost, Balch leaders need to dismantle the unethical, corrupt, and embarrassing Star Chamber, a court conducting secret proceedings with no public information or access available in regards to the Newsome Conspiracy Case. The Star Chamber was created to allegedly cover up what appears to be unethical, possibly criminal acts, including perjury. It’s a dirty…
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Will Carole Smitherman be the next Oliver Robinson?
Why was Balch & Bingham so confident in comments not made under oath or in a deposition that was yet to take place in which Verizon had not even been subpoenaed about? [Since no information is available on the Newsome Conspiracy Case since August 31st because Judge Smitherman created a corrupt Star Chamber, we are re-publishing this post from Monday, August 14, 2017. The post is even more relevant today.] With former and disgraced Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson facing prison time for a $360,000 bribery scheme involving the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham, will Judge Carole Smitherman be…
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More Indictments? Balch leaders and FBI need to Investigate
The parallel similarities between the Robinson Bribery Case and Newsome Conspiracy Case are striking: the use (or abuse) of an African-American elected official, money funneled through a third party entity, contributions made, etc. Although we are pleased that in a statement the leadership at Balch & Bingham vows to make sure partners are “adhering to the highest standards of legal and ethical compliance” throughout the firm, we feel the leaders also need to look at other unsavory conduct from the recent past unbecoming of a 95 year-old law firm. Since early this year, we have asked Balch to conduct a…
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CDLU calls on Trump to Fire Former Balch Lobbyist
Individuals tied to environmental racism should have no sanctuary in the U.S. Department of Justice or the Executive Branch. With the federal indictment yesterday of two partners of Balch & Bingham over the Robinson Bribery Scheme, we called on the Trump Administration today to fire Jeffrey H. Wood, Acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, for his role in the alleged conspiracy to suppress African-Americans in Alabama from testing their toxic and contaminated properties under the CERCLA/Super Fund Act. Before joining the Trump Administration, Woods was a lobbyist at Balch & Bingham, working for the…
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Will Balch & Bingham Partner Turn Federal Witness?
After the federal indictments were handed down, Balch & Bingham partners Joel Gilbert and Steven McKinney were put on an indefinite leave of absence and their Balch.com web pages were taken down. Balch released this statement to al.com: “Today we learned of the federal grand jury action regarding Joel Gilbert and Steve McKinney. While we note that Mr. Gilbert has denied the charges and vowed to vigorously defend himself, and expect Mr. McKinney to do the same, the charges allege actions that, if proven to be true, are contrary to the ethical values that guide our firm’s attorneys and staff.…
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Do Balch’s “Routine Legal Services” include Bribes and Economic Racism?
To defend the indefensible by calling the overt suppression of African-Americans “routine legal services” is economic racism. More indictments are expected today from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Birmingham in the Robinson Bribery Case and a partner (or more according to our sources) at Balch & Bingham will be indicted. [Update: As our sources correctly told us, two Balch partners were indicted: Joel Gilbert and Steven McKinney. Full coverage here.] Calling his client’s actions “routine legal services,” Jack Sharman, a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC and attorney for Balch partner Joel Gilbert tried to get in front of…
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Star Chamber Blues
Is Balch & Bingham singing the blues? Are the Smithermans, too? Did they all make an enormous mistake? Since the end of August, bowing to Balch’s wishes, Judge Carole Smitherman created a Star Chamber without a hearing, without notice to hold secret proceedings in the Burt Newsome Conspiracy Case. She sealed the public court documents going back to the very inception of the case (2015) and at the same time, created an enormous black-eye on the judicial branch in Alabama. Smitherman, who received over $15,000 from BIZPAC, a PAC funded in part by Balch partners, appears to have shown the…
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Strange Fundraising Chair Served as Director of $360,000 Corrupt Bribery Entity
Mike Thompson, the fundraising chairman of Strange’s U.S. Senate campaign was listed as a director of the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy, a tax-exempt entity created in 2015 whose purpose was to funnel $360,000 in bribes to a corrupt politician, former Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson, according to court filings of the U.S. Department of Justice. The corrupt bribery entity was created, incorporated with the assistance of Balch & Bingham, the embattled law firm currently under investigation in two federal probes. The CDLU, which has been investigating Balch & Bingham since last year in regards to the Newsome Conspiracy…
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Balch & Bingham’s Biggest Stooge: U.S. Senator Luther Strange
The Newsome case exemplifies a despicable act of injustice, an abuse of the judiciary branch for financial and political gain. We have reached out to federal authorities and have asked them to investigate U.S. Senator Luther Strange’s involvement in alleged corruption and the trampling of the Civil Rights of Burt Newsome, a father of four young children who was wrongly targeted, falsely arrested, and defamed by one of Strange’s most ardent financial and political supporters, the embattled law firm Balch & Bingham. Strange has received tens of thousands of dollars from Balch & Bingham or political action committees funded by…
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Balch in Meltdown; New Sheriff in Town
Kudos to the new U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Jay E. Town (pictured) who made it unequivocally clear to Balch & Bingham that their participation in a $360,000 bribery scheme to suppress poor African-Americans from testing their toxic and contaminated property (involving corrupt politician Oliver Robinson) won’t be sidelined and the culprits at even the highest levels of power will be brought to justice. In a statement yesterday after Robinson officially pled guilty, Town articulated: “This lamentable pursuit of self-interest masquerading as beneficial for the little guy is more than a violation of our laws. This was…
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All Eyes on Balch & Bingham’s Star Chamber
Our sources tell us that corrupt politician Oliver Robinson, who took $360,000 in bribes paid through Balch & Bingham to allegedly suppress African-Americans from testing their toxic property, will finally plead guilty on September 7, 2017 and that legal representatives of Balch & Bingham partner Joel Gilbert, who allegedly funneled the money to Robinson and was identified as Attorney #1 by al.com, are allegedly vigorously trying to prevent any indictment or prosecution through direct channels in Washington, D.C. But our sources also tell us the bribery investigation will proceed even after the September 7th pleading. Now comes Judge Carole “Star…
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Balch’s Secret Star Chamber
Balch & Bingham appears to have shown the public what money and influence peddling can buy: your own, private, secret Star Chamber. Is Balch & Bingham shielding alleged corrupt acts, unscrupulous behavior, and perjury? On Friday, we purchased more documents of the Newsome Conspiracy Case from Alacourt.com, but none of our PDF documents would open and instead showed the message above, “Error. This is a confidential case.” Even the hundreds of pages we previous purchased from the last couple of months were blocked from viewing. (Luckily, we downloaded them.) Maxine, a representative from Alacourt.com, called us back and said the…
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Is Balch & Bingham Polluting Southern Company?
Southern Company is a publicly-traded company and they don’t need Balch & Bingham or economic racism as a national sideshow, especially in this post-Charlottesville era. Economic Racism? Environmental Injustice? How did we get here? When we started our investigation into the Burt Newsome Conspiracy case, we never thought this would lead to questioning the moral compass of Southern Company or their subsidiary, Alabama’s most powerful corporate institution, Alabama Power. In an early morning news release today, the Black Warrior Riverkeeper organzation called on Alabama Power to “remove their coal ash from these unlined impoundments by the river and place it…
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Alleged Co-Conspirators May Have “Hung Themselves”
The letter to AT&T looks like a deliberate and deceptive tactic to impede justice, to hide evidence, and to protect the alleged co-conspirators. As the Newsome Conspiracy Case garners heavier analysis by outside groups, the alleged co-conspirators and their lawyers, including some Balch & Bingham partners, have apparently become unhinged, as the insidious and eye-popping tricks become exposed. In a five-page letter to Judge Carole Smitherman dated August 8, 2017, Robert M. Ronnlund, an attorney for one of the alleged co-conspirators whines to the Judge about us, a sealed video-deposition, and the negative publicity. Regarding discovery and evidence, Ronnlund wrote,…
