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| Rob Campbell |
Account information for Rob Campbell, a partner at the Birmingham law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings (BABC), appears in the data dumped from a hack of some 37 million Ashley Madison users around the globe. Sources have compiled a list of Alabama users, many of them prominent individuals (lawyers, doctors, CEOs, CFOs, etc.), and we are planning a series of posts on the subject.
Rob Campbell is married to Minda Riley Campbell, daughter to the former governor and sister to Homewood attorney and Republican Party operative Rob Riley. Here is how Rob Campbell's Ashley Madison information appears in one database compiled of Alabama users:
ROBERT CAMPBELL,655.8,RJCAMPBELL35209@GMAIL.COM,1819 Fifth Ave N,Birmingham,35203
The number after Campbell's name is the amount of money he has spent with Ashley Madison, according to the data dump. The address for him--1819 Fifth Ave N, Birmingham, 35203--is the address for Bradley Arant. Sources say Rob Campbell is one of several Bradley Arant lawyers on the list.
According to a number of news reports, data from two dumps released so far includes identifying information for paying Ashley Madison members--e-mail addresses, physical addresses, amounts paid, etc. The hacking group called Impact Team has released a third data dump that reportedly includes nude photos and chat sessions among Ashley Madison users.
Our sources are combing through that information now, and it is expected to be in publishable form in a few days. Henry County Report, a Web site based in southeast Alabama, already has published nude photos (with strategically placed black boxes) of a lawyer and a doctor from the Dothan area.
Slabbed, an alternative news site based in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, linked to a Pastebin URL, which contained data for Ashley Madison users in Louisiana and Mississippi. Publisher Doug Handshoe said his site has been overwhelmed with readers since publishing the Ashley Madison lists, causing Slabbed to crash several times in recent days. Handshoe said in a comment at the site that a normal month's worth of visitors had come to the site in the past two or three days.
In a post last night, Handshoe said Slabbed received more than 1,000 visits in a 10-minute period yesterday afternoon. The site temporarily disabled two posts on the Ashley Madison queries in order to reduce traffic to a manageable level and get back online.
How many visits did Rob Campbell make to Ashley Madison, and what did those visits entail? We likely will have that information soon--for Campbell and a number of other prominent Alabamians.
That Bradley Arant lawyers would be outed in the Ashley Madison data dump is filled with irony. The firm reportedly raked in more than $10 million during Bob Riley's final two years in office (2008-10), ostensibly to fight "illegal" electronic-bingo facilities that the firm had declared were legal just a few years earlier.
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| Minda Riley Campbell |
Bradley Arant also has contributed heavily to Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who picked up the e-bingo battle from Bob Riley. As of July 2013, BABC had received $364,000 in public funds to help Strange's office fight e-bingo. The firm had contributed $21,000 to Strange during and after his 2010 campaign, so those numbers reflect a 1,730 percent return on investment for BABC.
As for Rob Campbell, what kind of law does he practice, when he isn't visiting Ashley Madison? This is from his bio at the BABC Web site:
Rob Campbell is a partner in the firm’s Birmingham, Alabama office, where his practice is comprised of a broad range of complex commercial litigation, including financial institution, class action, multidistrict and parallel proceedings, insurance coverage and sales practices litigation. Rob also counsels clients with respect to insurance regulatory issues and regulatory investigations.
Much of Rob’s practice is devoted to defending insurance and financial services litigation, particularly class action and opt-out litigation, throughout the Southeast. His clients include Liberty National Life Insurance Company, MONY Life Insurance Company, The Principal Financial Group, Jefferson Pilot Life Insurance Company, AXA-Equitable Insurance Company, GE Life and Annuity Assurance Company, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, and Southland National Insurance Corporation, among others.
Are all of Rob Campbell's clients now indirectly tied to the Ashley Madison scandal? That's hard to say, but we know that at least one of them--Liberty National Life Insurance--is directly connected to Ashley Madison.
More on that in an upcoming post.
Big Bob (aka Gomer Pyle) is not going to be happy about this.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Rob makes his living by climbing in bed with Big Insurance. What a shockeroo.
ReplyDeleteGreat reporting, LS, and it sounds like you have much more coming. Love it. Elites like Rob Campbell think they are above it all. Well, the Ashley Madison hack might bring a bunch of them down a few pegs.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many of Rob Campbell's visits to Ashley Madison came on Bradley Arant time and on Bradley Arant equipment.
ReplyDeleteIs Rob Campbell the first major Alabama figure to be specifically outed in the Ashley Madison scandal? I've seen the list of Alabama names published at 1-2 places, but this is the first story I've seen that identifies a particular person and provides context on what the data shows. I would say Campbell--as a former governor's son-in-law, partner at the state's largest law firm, and husband of a GOP political operative--is a pretty big fish.
ReplyDeleteIronic you think?
ReplyDeleteRobert Campbell at one end of the spectrum, Campbell Robertson at other end.
That is ironic, for sure, @8:58. I hadn't thought of it lining up like that.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question, @8:57, and I'm not sure about the answer. It's the first story of its kind that I've seen--in fact, it's the first story of its kind I've seen from any state--but that doesn't mean there aren't others out there.
ReplyDeleteSo you contacted Minda Riley Campbell, and she knows about her husband's actions?
ReplyDeleteShe knows about them if she read my e-mail, of if she reads this blog, yes. It's also possible she knew about it--or other extramarital issues--long before the Ashley Madison story ever broke.
ReplyDeleteWho is more prolific when it comes to extramarital affairs--Rob Campbell or Rob Riley?
ReplyDeleteRob Campbell, client, Liberty National Life Insurance, once owned by Frank P. Samford, Samford University, a Baptist college in Birmingham, Al, a few clients on Ashley Madison hack connected to Samford University...........see where I'm going here?
ReplyDeleteBaptists, Samford Baptists, sex, conservatism?, republican, of course. Can we surmise from the info above that Rob Campbell is a Baptist too?
I heard LOTS of Mountain Brook parents have been identified on the Ashley Madison website as paying customers . Wonder if their children will find out?
ReplyDeleteThere are several familiar Alabama political names in the list of cheaters.
ReplyDeletePaul Hamrick - former Siegelman Chief of Staff and a codefendant in his trial - has multiple accounts. He's married.
So does Tom Layfield, the chief lobbyist for the powerful Alabama Bankers Association. He's married too.
Zeb Little is on the list. So is Al.com reporter Charles J. Dean Many many others. There is even a "Henry Aaron" in Mobile, though that is probably an alias.
I don't know if Rob Campbell is Baptist, @9:23, but my understanding is that Rob Riley is a member, or at least was a member, at Dawson Baptist Church in Homewood. In fact, I think Rob Riley was a deacon, or some such, at one time.
ReplyDeleteA very big fish from Liberty National is on the list, and I'm working on that story now.
Thanks for the info, @9:34. What is Paul Hamrick doing now? Is he still in the political world?
ReplyDeleteTom Layfield sounds like a guy who would be connected to the Business Council of Alabama.
I had noticed the name Charles J. Dean, and that is the al.com reporter?
Zeb Little now is a lawyer in private practice?
Mountain Brook parents are on there? What a scream! I assume they are big-dog, big-money corporate or legal types?
ReplyDeleteI thought a judge found that Rob Riley didn't have an affair and you're reporting on the case was false and defamatory.
ReplyDeleteMy reporting on the Rob Riley matter never has been shown to be false or defamatory at trial, in any court. That's because there was no trial, and Riley did not request a jury. Even Riley himself never has denied the content of my reporting, under oath, in an affidavit or any sworn document.
ReplyDeleteMolli -
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff LS! Not shocking at all. As we all know, in my opinion, this ain't his first rodeo (regardless of any court or legal opinion). Cheater is protected by other disgraceful professionals. Bob's motorcycle trip to Alaska might be linked to this Web site! LOL
Worthy of your time, visit Dana Siegelman's site about posting of Fox Cable News.
ReplyDeleteI think that now Rob Campbell is gonna fully understand what Ashley Madison meant when they said "Life is short. Have an affair."
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Minda is gonna make sure his life is very very short.
I assume details exist about Rob Campbell's activities, what he actually did on Ashley Madison?
ReplyDeleteThat is correct, @5:47. Because of the massive size of these files, it takes a little while to sort all the data on individuals. But we are close to having a treasure trove of information about Rob Campbell, and other prominent legal/political/corporate types in Alabama.
ReplyDeleteWe also are close to having data for other states in the South (Georgia, Florida) and the Midwest (Missouri, etc.) You definitely will want to stay tuned.
Who ever hacked A. M.'s website to publish the names of those who went there did no one any favours. A person's personal life is just that. Yes, we have found out some people are hypocrits, but does that justify ruining the lives of those around them. Do children really need to read this about their parents? Do spouses, who didn't know, really have to face this mess in such a public matter.
ReplyDeleteIn Toronto, Canada it was reported two people committed suicide once it was public their names were on A.M. That is not a good thing. We may all have a good laugh about politicians and people we don't like, having their names "outed", but really, it is only sex. cheating on your spouse maybe indicative of a person's real character, but if you looked closely at politicians and other leaders you could come to the same conclusion, without checking their sex lives. Remember its only sex. It has always been my impression sex was always a bigger thing in politics in the U.S.A. than say in Europe.
Given the reporting of a large number of fake female profiles designed to fool large numbers of horny men I wonder if Avid Life has exposures under the US wire fraud statutes. Ashley Madison has all the indications it was nothing more than a scam. A large number of victims fleeced out of a few hundred bucks that have ever incentive not to complain. Today this is called Capitalism, 30 years ago they called it racketeering.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, if I were Minda Campbell.... I'd advise him to be searching for a headstone.... while I went to Lowe's for a wood chipper.......
ReplyDelete