Stunning revelations about surveillance of Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning leave a pile of unanswered questions in court battle over Matrix LLC

Tom Fanning

 

Why would Matrix LLC conduct surveillance of Tom Fanning,  CEO of Southern Company -- the parent firm of Alabama Power, one of Matrix's own clients? Perhaps of even more interest, what is Fanning going to do about it?

Those two questions are hanging in the air after a report this week from al.com about the dueling lawsuits -- in Florida and Alabama -- involving former Matrix CEO Jeff Pitts and the firm's founder, Joe Perkins. Court documents do seem to answer this question: Why did Pitts leave Matrix in the first place? More on that in a moment.

As for the stunning revelations about the surveillance of Fanning and his associates, al.com's John Archibald and Kyle Whitmire write:

The political consulting firm Matrix LLC has long gathered intelligence for powerful politicians and corporate interests in Alabama, and in the process nurtured a fearsome reputation.

In its work, Matrix or its employees have surveilled environmentalists and journalists, smeared politicians and manufactured protests — to the benefit of its clients, including Alabama Power Co.

In 2017, however, it did more than look outward to potential threats. It looked upward, at Alabama Power’s parent, Southern Company and its CEO.

Records obtained by AL.com reveal that in May 2017 Matrix hired a Florida private investigator to gather information on associates of Tom Fanning, the CEO of The Southern Company, the nation’s second-largest utility, which owns Alabama Power. That investigator also surveilled Fanning near his home in Atlanta.

A Southern Company spokesman, also speaking on behalf of Alabama Power, said it had recently learned of the surveillance and the company does not know who initiated it or why.

What will Fanning do about the intrusions into his life? Publisher K.B. Forbes has thoughts about that at the blog banbalch.com. First, he refers to a post he wrote last October:

Rumors are flying that Southern Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tom Fanning is retiring next year.

And Alabama Power CEO and Chairman Mark A. Crosswhite is allegedly telling bourgeois insiders that he has the lock and key to the C-Suite at Southern Company, Alabama Power’s parent company.

Crosswhite is unfit to serve.

He worked as a top partner for alleged racist and embattled law firm Balch & Bingham before taking the revolving door to Alabama Power.

Instead of distancing himself from Balch, Crosswhite appears to be embracing his former employer, even allegedly subsidizing the firm with lucrative business as Balch is hemorrhaging from alleged unsavory and criminal scandals engulfing the 99 year-old firm.

Now unsubstantiated rumors say Alabama Power and unknown related entities have indemnified Balch and others for their alleged criminal, racist, and egregious misconduct.

Hiding behind non-disclosure agreements and now allegedly million-dollar indemnity deals, the Crosswhite scandal smells like raw sewage.

Forbes then offers his assessment of what Fanning should do

Now, before federal investigators come knocking, Fanning needs to make some tough executive decisions and

1. Fire Crosswhite.
2. Disengage Matrix and “Sloppy Joe” Perkins.
3. Terminate Balch and Bingham.

Forbes also offers insight, taken directly from court pleadings, into the reasons behind Pitts' departure at Matrix:

Getting back to Pitts, we believe strongly now that he resigned after decades of service to “Sloppy Joe” Perkins because he saw alleged criminal misconduct. His mentor was letting him take over, but instead Pitts left, because, as his court pleading states, he saw “inappropriate and unethical business practices.”

Now Pitts could be planing to sing about “high crimes and misdemeanors” at his deposition with Perkins’ lawyers.

Are the Three Stooges (Alabama Power, Drummond, and Balch) vulnerable?

As for the Fanning surveillance, it centered around a former girlfriend. From al.com: 

The listed “target” of the surveillance was Kimberly Tanaka, a fitness club owner and then-girlfriend of Fanning, but private investigator Derek Uman surveilled Tanaka and Fanning at her work and at his home.

Tanaka said she was in a serious and public relationship with Fanning that ended abruptly in 2017. She was unaware of the surveillance until recently.

“This was all news to me and I still don’t know why,” she told AL.com on Sunday. “It’s a little unnerving.”

She said she had no idea why anyone would think following her would put pressure on Fanning.

Uman, founder of Clear Capture Investigations of Gainesville, Fla., staked out Fanning’s Atlanta home and photographed him running on a wooded hill on a cul-de-sac leading to his secluded house. Uman followed and videoed Tanaka, gathered photos and billed then-Matrix CEO Pitts $6,881.55 for surveillance, travel, meals and more. Uman addressed the invoice to Pitts.

Uman, who said he has done lots of work for Matrix, refused to talk about the content of his investigation, saying that would be illegal. He did confirm the authenticity of the report, and said the invoice “was paid with a Matrix check that was signed by Joe Perkins.”

Asked about the Fanning spying, Perkins pointed in Pitts' direction. Pitts responded by pointing at Perkins:

In an interview with AL.com on Monday morning, Perkins emphatically denied he had anything to do with the surveillance of Fanning and blamed the spying on former “rogue” employees, including Pitts.

“I know nothing about that document, and frankly, because of the nature of that document and so many other issues, I can’t speak to authentication,” Perkins said.

In a recent interview, Pitts said it was absurd that his old boss is now playing dumb. Perkins knew, Pitts said.

“For decades, Joe Perkins carefully and meticulously built his image as Alabama’s most elite and influential political research and intelligence gathering consultant,” Pitts told AL.com. “Now, Perkins wants everyone to believe that for over a decade a group of his own, hand-picked employees, in his own carefully orchestrated office, carried out secret operations without him knowing. All while he was paid millions of dollars.”

Pitts would say little else, citing a non-disclosure agreement he signed with Matrix.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) asks Attorney General Merrick Garland for a federal probe of possible corruption involving utilities tied to Matrix LLC

Kathy Castor

 

A member of Congress is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate possible corruption connected to Montgomery, AL-based consulting firm Matrix LLC, according to a report from ban.balch.com:

U.S. Congresswoman Kathy Castor dispatched a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland yesterday demanding a probe of Alabama Power’s alleged go-to political fixer, Matrix, the obscure political consulting firm engaged in alleged influence peddling and alleged criminal acts.

Citing an article from Wink News, which is based in the Fort Meyers, FL, area, Ban Balch publisher K.B. Forbes reports:

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) said in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday that recent press reports in Florida had “exposed apparent corruption, influence peddling and breaches of the public trust by Florida’s largest electric utility Florida Power & Light and its officers.”

“Numerous public corruption scandals involving electric utilities across the country have resulted in federal public corruption criminal and civil probes, and it appears that such oversight is needed in Florida now,” the letter said.

Her letter comes on the heels of our direct contact with federal investigators about Matrix’s alleged criminal misconduct involving 18 tax-exempt entities and more than $50 million in money laundering.

This might seem like a Florida story, but it has deep roots in Alabama. Writes Forbes:

Although Florida Power & Light has terminated its contracts with entities and individuals tied to the Matrix Meltdown, Alabama Power  allegedly is STILL paying Matrix and Matrix founder “Sloppy Joe” Perkins  more than $2 million a year without the need for invoicing.

Although news reporting has been focused primarily on Florida, reliable sources tell us there are numerous investigative efforts now looking at Alabama and the Three Stooges (Alabama Power, Drummond, and Balch & Bingham).

With ex-Matrix CEO “Jittery Jeff” Pitts’ deposition ready to pry the filthy treasure chest of alleged dirty deeds wide open, the Congresswoman’s letter has caught the perfect wave.

Depositions and subpoenas, following Guardian article, heighten the intrigue surrounding court battle in Alabama and Florida over Matrix LLC

Joe Perkins

Last week's explosive article in The Guardian drew national attention to the ongoing legal battle between Joe Perkins, founder of Montgomery, AL-based Matrix LLC, and the firm's former CEO, Jeff Pitts. New legal issues are making the already fiery story even hotter, according to a report at banbalch.com.

Perkins' attorneys have scheduled a Pitts deposition. But Pitts is striking back, writes Publisher K.B. Forbes:

Pitts dropped a double whammy on Friday: his legal team subpoenaed both Alabama Power and Southern Company for documents and files all related to “Sloppy Joe”(Perkins) and Matrix from at least 2015 through 2020. 

That raises all kinds of questions, and Forbes spells them out:

Are Matrix’s alleged dirty deeds and alleged criminal acts ready to be exposed?

Will Pitts’ attorneys hand over damaging information to the feds?

Will executives, goons, and thugs of the Three Stooges (Balch, Drummond, and Alabama Power) rush to cooperate with federal investigators?

Keeping Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the North Birmingham Bribery Trial is nothing compared to what looks like a network of paid consultants, stooges and actors that appear to intimidate critics and engage in truly unsavory acts.

Will “Jittery Jeff” (Pitts) expose the worst of the alleged dirty deeds?

 Forbes lists a few unsavory acts that might draw scrutiny:

• The alleged shooting of ex-Drummond executive David Roberson’s car window on Highway 280 in Birmingham.
• The car accident that almost killed Balch & Bingham target Burt Newsome.
• The paid plumbers who stole Newsome’s checkbook in the middle of the night.
• The religious apostle and others hired to target us, the CDLU, and our leadership only to stupidly terrorize the wrong family at the wrong address.
• Alleged payments to media outlets and journalists including some possibly tied to a journalist’s brain amputation.

This is no longer a laughing matter.

The stakes are extremely high.

Forbes then provides a wide-angle view of the issues at hand:

Mark A. Crosswhite of Alabama Power, Blake Andrews of Drummond, and the leadership at Balch have much to worry about.

And as we mentioned in April, journalists and federal investigators are zeroing in. The Guardian stories appear to be part of that broad effort.

“Jittery Jeff ” didn’t simply walk away from a long-term mentor. He may have seen some alleged unethical or criminal acts he probably didn’t approve of or like.

And now Pitts’ deposition will open everyone’s eyes to how far Matrix and “Sloppy Joe” allegedly pushed the envelope on behalf of the Three Stooges.

As America simmers under a blistering heat wave, Alabama-based Matrix LLC leads a multi-state attack on clean-energy efforts to address climate change

 

U.S. power companies are secretly spending millions to protect profits and fight clean energy, according to a report from The Guardian. The story has strong connections to Alabama and Florida, with Montgomery-based consulting firm Matrix LLC in the middle of the intrigue. Alabama Power also makes an appearnce. As The Guardian states in a sub-headline: "One industry consulting firm has influenced politics across Florida, Alabama and at least six other states." That is a reference to Matrix. Here are details:

The CEO of the biggest power company in the US had a problem. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) profits. Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants – bypassing FPL and its monopoly on electricity.

“I want you to make his life a living hell … seriously,” FPL’s CEO Eric Silagy wrote in a 2019 email to two of his vice-presidents about state Senator José Javier Rodríguez, who proposed the legislation.

“I want you to make his life a living hell … seriously,” FPL’s CEO Eric Silagy wrote in a 2019 email to two of his vice-presidents about state Senator José Javier Rodríguez, who proposed the legislation.

Within minutes, one of them forwarded the directive to the CEO of Matrix, LLC, a powerful but little-known political consulting firm that has operated behind the scenes in at least eight states.

Rodríguez was ousted from office in the next election. Matrix employees spent heavily on political advertisements for a candidate with the same last name as Rodríguez, who split the vote. That candidate later admitted he was bribed to run.

Hundreds of pages of internal documents – which are only coming to light now because Matrix’s founders are locked in an epic feud – detail the firm’s secret work to help power companies like FPL protect their profits and fight the transition to cleaner forms of energy.

This story is particularly timely as many Americans bake under an unrelenting heat wave:

The Matrix saga illustrates the political obstacles policymakers and experts face as they attempt to cut climate pollution from the power sector, one of the biggest greenhouse gas contributors in the US.

The ongoing clash between Matrix’s founder Joe Perkins, 72, and former CEO Jeff Pitts, 51, is exposing the firm’s decades of extensive influence peddling on behalf of utility clients.

The issue extends to several states. Records obtained by Floodlight and the Orlando Sentinel show that Matrix consulted for FPL, as well as another Florida company, Gulf Power, and Alabama Power. Matrix affiliated groups have also worked to advance power companies’ interests in Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and in front of the Environmental Protection Agency, public records show.

In Florida, Matrix’s work touched almost every level of politics, from influencing local mayoral and county commission elections to combating attempts to reshape the state constitution. In each of those cases, Matrix was working against politicians or policies fighting to curb the climate crisis by encouraging renewable power.

As Birmingham-based banbalch.com has reported, along with Legal Schnauzer, Matrix's tactics can get alarming. (Here is  link to a Ban Balch report on The Guardian story.) Writes The Guardian: 

Matrix employees had a Jacksonville journalist spied on after he wrote critically about FPL. And in 2020, Matrix even harnessed the power of the press for itself, when its employees acquired control of The Capitolist, a Tallahassee-based political news site which it used for favorable coverage, leaked records show.

“I find this to be horrifying and undemocratic,” said Gianna Trocino Bonner, former chief legislative aide for Rodríguez, after reviewing some of the leaked documents. “It’s unfortunate that our process allows for something like this to exist without accountability.”

As it turns out, Big Power can have more than one meaning:

Big power companies operate as monopolies with captive customers in much of the south-east US. They are supposed to be closely regulated, but their profits and unchecked political spending makes them some of the most powerful entities in a state.

Howard Crystal, an attorney for the environmental group Center for

Biological Diversity, said that US utilities are allowed monopoly power “because they are supposed to expand the public interest.

“[But] now we have this incredible corruption and a reversal of that because they are using their advantage to hang on to power and undermine democracy,” he said.

So far, there have been two criminal investigations into the campaign against Rodríguez and another Democratic state senate candidate, leading to charges against five people, though authorities have not accused Matrix or FPL of wrongdoing.

The report dives into the feud between Joe Perkins and Jeff Pitts:

Matrix’s principal, Perkins, says he discovered only after Pitts left the firm that he and other now-former employees had been conducting “shadow activities and operations” dating back to 2016. He is suing Pitts in Alabama for fraud and conspiracy.

“For many years and without my knowledge or approval, Pitts abused his power and position to benefit himself and his cronies,” Perkins said in a statement. “Upon realizing the extent of Pitts’s shadow operations and abuses of power, we filed our lawsuit against Pitts and those few rogue employees.”

Pitts, who left Matrix in December 2020 to start his own firm, Canopy Partners, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. He is also suing Perkins, alleging defamation and extortion. A spokesperson for FPL said it stopped working with Canopy in late 2021.

In many ways this is a story of hard-ball politics:

FPL’s CEO Silagy in a recent interview denied knowing about or participating in the scheme against Rodríguez but said that Matrix had done “good work” for his company. Records show FPL trusted Matrix operatives with millions, including giving $14m to a single Matrix-run nonprofit in 2018 alone.

Silagy said the email in which he told his team to make Rodríguez’s life “a living hell” was “a poor choice of words.”

In Florida, FPL and Matrix demonstrated how a utility and its consultants can work in tandem to resist clean energy reforms. FPL deployed lobbyists to the capital, while Matrix hired private investigators to dig for dirt and had operatives funnel dark money and order attack ads.

Few examples are clearer than the case of South Miami. When the small south Florida city’s mayor helped pass an ordinance in 2017 mandating rooftop solar panels on new construction, a network of 10 FPL-aligned operatives mobilized to ensure his ouster.

The team decided an effort to repeal the ordinance would probably fail. So they opted instead for “Mayor Stoddard’s electoral defeat and changing the makeup of the board”, according to a 2018 memo from Dan Newman, a Matrix contractor who was similarly involved in the campaign against Rodríguez.

Along with a private investigator, the group delved into Stoddard’s past for episodes to weaponize against him, such as a South Miami commissioner’s claim on Facebook that Stoddard had forcibly kissed her. Documents show Matrix operatives arranged for the commissioner to record a robocall in which she called Stoddard “a creep”. Pitts at the time forwarded a draft of the script to two FPL executives. Newman in his memo also took credit for a Miami Herald story about the allegation.

An organization that acts like a mafia should be treated like one,” Stoddard said.

From the beginning, Matrix showed no aversion to unsavory political tactics. In 1998, the firm distributed copies of a video in which a sex worker falsely alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a candidate for lieutenant governor. The sex worker later testified the allegations were untrue, and that she had been paid by a Birmingham businessman to make them.

In 2015, Matrix distributed fliers for a suspicious charity in a predominantly Black neighborhood in North Birmingham. The fliers warned residents not to let the Environmental Protection Agency test their soil for the presence of contaminants left by a coal plant.

Feds receive briefing on alleged money-laundering scheme that could involve up to $50 million; is Steve Feaga set to re-enter picture re: Balch & Bingham?

Federal investigators have been briefed on an alleged money-laundering scheme involving $50 million and 18 tax-exempt entities, according to a report at banbalch.com. In a related development, sources are telling Publisher K.B. Forbes that former Balch & Bingham chief compliance officer (CCO) Steve Feaga has drawn the interest of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Regarding the money-laundering briefing, Forbes writes: 

Alabama Power has secretly paid millions to the embattled political consulting firm Matrix, LLC and its founder “Sloppy Joe” Perkins who sloppily outlined alleged criminal misconduct spanning more than a decade in a since-deleted post on Yellowhammernews.com on June 30.

We, the CDLU, have briefed federal investigators on the alleged money laundering of more than $50 million using 18 tax-exempt 501 (c) 4 entities. These tax-exempt entities are designed to be “social welfare organizations” and must operate primarily to further the common good and general welfare of the people of the community.

We are sure that funneling money to “ghost candidates” in Florida and other alleged dirty deeds do not further the common good.

What is at the heart of these allegations? Forbes explains:

“Sloppy Joe” Perkins . . . apparently let his ego get the best of him. Perkins . . .  is in the middle of a brutal and ugly two-state legal battle with his once-protégé “Jittery Jeff” Pitts.

A much-needed federal probe of this matter could enhance the alleged ongoing obstruction of justice probe of Alabama Power CEO and Chairman (and former Balch partner) Mark A. Crosswhite.

This appears to involve big names in Alabama legal and business circles. It also involves an eye-popping financial figure -- and Forbes provides context:

The North Birmingham Bribery Scandal involved less than $400,000 in money laundering. What will the feds find in the more than $50 million in transactions since 2010?

Balch & Bingham and sister-wife Alabama Power appear to have relied on the “strategic” services of Matrix and Joe Perkins for decades.

Will the latest developments engulf the Three Stooges (Alabama Power, Balch, and Drummond Company) and bring to light the alleged “don’t ask, just cut the check” bribery ring?

Who will be the first to sing? Billy Canary? Trey Glenn? Lance Brown?

As for Feaga, he was ousted at Balch after two years as the firm's CCO, with no replacement named. Now, his name is coming up again, writes Forbes:

With nothing done in those two years, we called Feaga’s appointment the greatest act of window dressing.

His work at Balch ran parallel to the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

That, of course, raises a host of questions, as Forbes spells out:

Does Feaga know about the alleged secret deal to keep Alabama Power “unmentionable” during the trial? Does Feaga have inside information about the inappropriate meeting at the Moon Shine Lounge between disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and the CEO of Alabama Power, Mark A. Crosswhite? Does he have a keen understanding how Matrix, LLC and attorney Mark White were utilized to allegedly protect Crosswhite and Alabama Power?

Is Feaga now, today providing insight in the alleged ongoing federal investigation of obstruction of justice involving Balch’s sister-wife Alabama Power?

A second source confirmed in the past 24 hours that something is happening with Feaga and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Judge Abdul K. Fallon, who presided over the North Birmingham Bribery Trial, gave his notice of resignation unexpectedly on April 6, 2022. A day later, two Assistant U.S. Attorneys allegedly also gave notice of their resignations. The following week, Balch partner Bo Lineberry committed suicide, allegedly due to financial troubles.

Now Feaga, who has been off the grid for two and a half years, is a person of interest.

Interesting. Interesting to say the least.

Joe Perkins' fiery statement about Matrix LLC and its two-state legal battles with former CEO Jeff Pitts has vanished. How in the world did that happen?

Joe Perkins

The heated statement that Joe Perkins, founder of Montgomery-based Matrix LLC, issued last week has disappeared from its original spot on the Web. What gives? K.B. Forbes addresses that question and related issues in a breaking story this afternoon at banbalch.com. Writes Forbes, under the headline "Breaking News: Rambling Statement Deleted! Who Reined in “Sloppy Joe?”

Yellowhammernews.com has deleted the rambling, disconnected statement from Matrix founder and political consultant “Sloppy Joe” Perkins that was posted on June 30, 2022.

As we wrote three days ago, the statement foolishly outlined alleged criminal misconduct involving 18 entities and the alleged money laundering of over $50 million since 2010.

Perkins appeared to falsely allege that we, the CDLU, were involved in a conspiracy with news site DonaldWatkins.com and a cavalier dog rescuer to defame him in his ongoing, two-state divorce with his once-protégé “Jittery Jeff” Pitts. Perkins appeared to have threatened to file a SLAPP lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) against the CDLU.

We, the CDLU, are letting federal authorities know about the allegations and are providing them copies of the statement. According to Perkins’ statement, nearly a million digital files were recovered.

Now the million-dollar question is, who reined in “Sloppy Joe?”

Was it Mark A. Crosswhite, the CEO at Alabama Power? Was it his lawyer “Andy2K” Campbell who also represents Balch & Bingham? Was it criminal attorney Mark White at White, Arnold & Dowd? 

Here is another question with no clear answer: What was Perkins thinking when he released the statement? Writes Forbes:

Without a doubt, the statement by “Sloppy Joe” appears to have been more detrimental than helpful  (to Matrix). We, the CDLU, were obligated to add the adverb “allegedly” numerous times to the accusations made.

Others could possibly sue “Sloppy Joe” and/or Yellowhammernews.com for defamation based on the raw statement.

While the Oompa Loompa of Alabama politics may have finally been calmed down and reined in, the rambling statement is not lost and is now available for all eternity on the Wayback Machine, an Internet archive portal.

"The Matrix Meltdown," with roots in Alabama, turns into a mud-wrestling match that features surveillance of a Florida journalist as accusations fly left and right

 

Journalist Nate Monroe, with a friend on vacation

Dueling lawsuits in Alabama and Florida, featuring current and past leaders of the Montgomery-based Matrix LLC political consulting firm, have sparked surveillance of a journalist, according to reports from newspapers based in the South and the UK.

K.B. Forbes, publisher of banbalch.com, likens the legal battle between Matrix founder Joe Perkins and former CEO Jeff Pitts -- he calls it "the Matrix Meltdown" --  to a mud-wrestling match: 

“Sloppy Joe” Perkins, the infamous founder of the obscure political consulting firm Matrix, and his once-protégé “Jittery Jeff” Pitts have made headlines again.

The Guardian published an investigative report on the ugly he-said, he-said fighting between the two men of mythical fame.

After a document dump landed in journalists’ laps, the two mud wrestlers smeared each other. The Guardian writes:

Perkins declined to say whether he is the source of the documents leaked to journalists but verified that the records are legitimate. He confirmed that Matrix was able to locate the records on Pitts’ former laptop. Perkins blames Pitts and other “rogue” employees for the surveillance.

He denied directing anyone to spy on [journalist Nate] Monroe.

“I had no knowledge that it ever took place until I saw the material on Jeff Pitts’ computer,” he said.

In a statement responding to questions from the Times-Union about the records, Pitts’ attorney John Collins accused Perkins of “leaking partial and misleading confidential client documents”.

“For years, Joe Perkins directed and paid for the surveillance of individuals – in many cases, without client knowledge or approval – and he often leveraged this information for whatever suited his needs regardless of ethical boundaries,” Collins said. “This is one of the many reasons Jeff left Matrix.”

The  tailing of Nate Monroe sounds like something out of a John Grisham novel. From a report that originated at Florida Floodlight and the Orlando Sentinel, under the headline "A Florida power company didn’t like a journalist’s commentary. Its consultants had him followed": 

Consultants working for America’s largest power company covertly monitored a Jacksonville journalist and obtained a report containing his social security number and other sensitive personal information, leaked documents reveal.

The surveillance happened after the journalist wrote critically about how Florida Power & Light (FPL) tried to sway city council members to sign off on its business plans. Text messages show an FPL executive was kept abreast of Florida Times-Union columnist Nate Monroe’s movements while he was on vacation in the Florida panhandle in November 2019, an investigation by the Florida Times-Union, the Orlando Sentinel and Floodlight has found.

Nearly a year later in October 2020, the consultants also obtained a photograph of Monroe and his girlfriend at the time outside their Jacksonville-area apartment, according to records shared with reporters by an anonymous source.

FPL denies that it authorized or knew about the surveillance. But the records show employees of Matrix LLC, an Alabama-based consulting firm employed by the utility, were shadowing the journalist throughout his critical coverage of a failed $11bn purchase of a smaller Florida utility.

How did such ugliness get started in Florida?

FPL’s relationship with Matrix has come under scrutiny after reporting by the Orlando Sentinel revealed Matrix operatives orchestrated a campaign to promote spoiler candidates that diverted votes from Democrats so Republicans could retain control of the Florida senate. FPL denies knowledge of or involvement in that scheme.

Although surveilling journalists is commonplace in some parts of the world, it’s happening more frequently in the United States, said Ted Bridis, a journalism instructor at the University of Florida. A former Associated Press investigative editor whose phone records were seized by the FBI a decade ago, Bridis said harassment of journalists is escalating, facilitated by a “new era of political divisiveness”.

“The fact that this kind of behavior could be taking place in Florida, allegedly by people with ties to the largest energy company, should shock the conscience,” he said.

Has the surveillance crossed any legal boundaries? Probably not, at this point:

Observing or photographing someone in a public place or collecting information about them isn’t illegal, said Clay Calvert, a professor of law at UF.

“It’s the intimidation that’s the problem,” he said. “It’s clearly bad public relations to try to intimidate journalists,” he said.

From his base near Birmingham, K.B. Forbes said the Florida story sounds like a movie he's seen before:

The acts affirm the alleged unsavory if not criminal conduct tied to Matrix’s biggest client: Alabama Power and the utility’s sister-wife Balch & Bingham.

The Florida surveillance reminds us of Balch attorney Irving Jones, Jr. who infiltrated meetings and monitored the social media of GASP, a small but loud environmental group and public charity, during the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal. Drummond Company was apparently petrified of GASP’s successful efforts. 

Of the numerous Dirty Deeds we documented in January that may or may not be tied to Matrix stooges, law enforcement clearly indicated that the wife of Burt Newsome was targeted by thugs who were specifically looking for her car when they broke her car window and stole her purse. The incident occurred at the height of the Newsome Conspiracy Case. The thugs were apparently attempting to obtain her cellphone which was not in her purse.

A message to our readers: Eye surgery forces Legal Schnauzer to take a break from the blogosphere

 

I will be undergoing cataract surgery over roughly the next two weeks, so Legal Schnauzer will go on hiatus while I focus on getting my vision back in focus. The right eye will receive treatment first, followed by a break for healing, and then the left eye.

This is my first experience with an eye-related procedure, so there is some nervousness involved. But I am in good medical hands, and I am deeply grateful for that. The cataracts definitely are affecting my vision, so it is time for them to go -- and I look forward to bidding them farewell. Wish me luck,, and I look forward to rejoining you in the blogger world before too long. Our best to all of you, from the Schnauzer family.

Dubious past actions by Trump-appointed Special Counsel John Durham raise questions about the prospects for justice in Michael Sussmann trial

John Durham

Perhaps the most politically charged criminal trial of the 2000s is fast approaching, and a citizen might like to think the prosecutor bringing the case is the kind of honorable, bipartisan sort fit for such a task. But Special Counsel John Durham, appointed by Trump Attorney General William Barr, has incidents in his past that suggest he might not be the right guy to oversee the case against Hillary Clinton-aligned attorney Michael Sussmann, who is charged with lying to the FBI. That's from investigative reporting by Andrew Kreig at the Justice Integrity Project (JIP). And it suggests the Sussmann trial might produce plenty of political fireworks -- based in the RussiaGate scandal of the 2016 presidential election and even touching on the U.S. attorneys firings of the George W. Bush era. But will the jury trial, set to begin May 16, produce justice? Kreig's reporting produces serious doubts about that. From Kreig's post at JIP, under the headline "On Eve of 'RussiaGate' Trial, Questions Loom About Special Counsel Durham":

With final preparations under way for one of the most politically explosive federal prosecutions in years, U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel John H. Durham’s record reveals legal error that undercuts his image as a straight-shooting seeker of justice.

In a 2008 ruling that has never been reported by a major news outlet, a New York federal appeals court vacated bribery, wire fraud and racketeering convictions because a team led by Durham, then the Deputy U.S. Attorney in Connecticut (and Acting U.S. attorney for supervising the prosecution), illegally withheld evidence that could have helped federal defendant Charles Spadoni defend himself in a corruption case.

In another case, a Connecticut federal judge overturned a conviction in 2003 because of what she ruled in a 57-page decision was Durham's repeated prosecutorial misconduct at trial, a sanction that authorities stated is extremely rare in the federal system.

Is this the kind of conduct the public should expect from the prosecutor in a case that likely will touch on international relations and national security? Kreig's timely reporting suggests the answer is no. Kreig writes:

Past performance is relevant now because Durham's three-year probe of alleged illegality pertaining to the 2016 U.S. presidential election is reaching a pivotal and controversial juncture with the trial this month of the prominent cyberlaw attorney Michael Sussmann on a claim that Sussmann falsely denied that he was representing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton when he sought to alert FBI general counsel James Baker in the fall of 2016 to suspicions of Russian interference.

Sussmann, his attorneys and some independent commentators have denied wrongdoing and claimed that the prosecution is exceptionally weak and also tainted by political partisanship by Durham, a career prosecutor who was also nominated by President Trump for the political post of U.S. attorney for Connecticut.

Several important pretrial motions were heard on April 27 by U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper in Washington’s federal court. (See . . . Sussmann Prosecutors Seek Legally Dubious "Tactical Advantage" At Trial, Defense Claims.) The judge largely resolved them on May 7 in favor of the defense, as reported here in Judge spares Clinton camp in Sussmann ruling. 

What brings a special edge to the Sussmann case? Kreig explains:

Durham’s case against Sussmann, a former partner at the D.C. office of law firm Perkins Coie, has generated substantial interest in the national press, particularly in pro-Trump circles where some Trump supporters regard it as their last best hope to vindicate Trump’s 2016 election victory as a purely American popular effort, thereby debunking claims that Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 election to hurt Clinton and other Democratic candidates.

Sussmann and his defenders, on the other hand, have defended his actions as both non-criminal and reasonable, particularly in view of what they see as confirmed threats to the elections process posed by Russians, Trump and their allies. Sussmann’s defense lawyers accused Durham, for example, of promoting a “baseless narrative that the Clinton campaign conspired with others to trick the federal government into investigating ties between President Trump and Russia.”

Sussmann’s attorneys also have pointed to evidentiary problems in Durham’s case, including the lack of contemporary notes by the key FBI witness, James Baker, to support the Durham prosecution team's allegation that Sussmann criminally deceived Baker regarding his relevant clients.

The case, in other words, has come to be regarded in some quarters as either a rigorous and fearless application of the law by Durham and his team -- or, conversely, as an example of over-zealous overreach by an unaccountable prosecutor suspected of bringing a baseless prosecution to favor pro-Trump politics.

What about those ties to a George W. Bush-era scandal? Here's how they enter the picture:

A consistent theme in the news accounts exploring the Durham investigation is that prosecutor and his team, including Nora R. Dannehy, a former Acting U.S. Attorney in Connecticut and longtime Durham colleague, bring to their work outstanding reputations as career prosecutors long entrusted to fulfill their responsibilities with the highest standards of professional expertise and justice-seeking.

And this is why the 2008 federal court decision, invalidating Durham’s prosecution of Spadoni for prosecutorial misconduct, remains especially relevant today in Durham’s prosecution of Sussmann.

Here’s the story: New Questions Raised About Prosecutor Who Cleared Bush Officials in U.S. Attorney Firings, which we at the Justice Integrity Project originally reported in 2010 in Nieman Watchdog, a niche website published by Harvard University and edited by Barry Sussman, the former Watergate editor of The Washington Post who supervised its coverage of that scandal. Sussman is also the author of the recently released fifth edition of The Great Cover-up, a widely praised account of the Watergate probe.

The Nieman Watchdog story focused primarily on the appointment of Durham and Dannehy as special counsel investigating allegations of CIA and Justice Department misconduct. The story began this way:

"Four days before Nora Dannehy was appointed to investigate the Bush administration’s U.S. attorney firing scandal, a team of lawyers she led was found to have illegally suppressed evidence in a major political corruption case.....[T]his previously unreported fact calls her entire investigation into question as well as that of a similar investigation by her colleague John Durham of DOJ and CIA decision-making involving torture."

The New York-based U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Durham’s team should have known that the Spadoni defense was entitled to an FBI agent's notes, which could have been used by Spadoni to argue that his conduct was legal.

The three-judge court ruled unanimously in vacating the major convictions against Spadoni. Judges held that the evidence unconstitutionally withheld might have helped Spadoni's defense against prosecution claims that he and his employer, Triumph Capital, Inc., illegally conspired to hire a political consultant in hopes of winning a major contract from the State of Connecticut.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson, a former federal prosecutor, authored the opinion, which is available here. It did not name the federal prosecutors at fault but the case caption and relevant filings were signed by Durham and Dannehy as the most senior attorneys.

Durham and Dannehy have maintained stellar reputations as public servants of high integrity and competence. But Kreig's reporting raises doubts about whether those reputations are deserved:

Durham and Dannehy have achieved widespread praise and career advancement as special prosecutors entrusted with reviewing several of the most sensitive Justice Department controversies of recent years. These include investigations of suppression of evidence, partisan prosecutions or other alleged serious wrongdoing by Justice Department and CIA personnel in major proceedings of historic stature.

That pattern continued after May 2019, when the Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr named Durham, later assisted by Dannehy, to investigate the Trump team’s claims that the FBI and other Justice Department concocted phony claims of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election along with Democratic operatives associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Tabloids, pro-Trump media outlets and some leftist critics of the Democratic Party have labeled the claims of Russian interference "RussiaGate" in many news stories and commentaries that suggest that Russian "interference" is colossal fraud on par with the Nixon-era scandal of the 1972 break-in by GOP and CIA operatives of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC. . . . 

Fox News, pro-Trump Republican officers, and many bloggers have similarly advanced arguments that Trump and Russians have been falsely accused.

"Radio silence" is beaming from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Birmingham, providing little illumination but raising questions about Matrix matters in Florida

Prim Escalona

 

Evidence points to  a federal investigation, possibly focused on obstruction of justice allegations related  to powerful entities in Birmingham. Such a probe likely would tie back to the highly publicized North Birmingham Superfund bribery scandal. But on current matters, no publicity is forthcoming from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, headed by Prim Escalona.

Publisher K.B. Forbes describes the current scenario in a post at banbalch.com, under the headline "Radio Silence from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama." Writes Forbes:

For almost two weeks, we have been seeking confirmation, denial or a “no comment” from the the public affairs officials at the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

We were told to go through the office by a top official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that investigates child exploitation and human trafficking.

Texting, leaving voicemails, and emailing spokespersons produced radio silence.

What is the focus of Forbes query?

The two questions on two separate matters that we asked about are based in part on unsubstantiated allegations.

1. What is the current status of the alleged pedophilia/child solicitation investigation related to Chase T. Espy and his former law firm [Balch & Bingham] that appears to have changed IP addresses weeks before he was terminated?
   
2. William D. Lineberry committed suicide on April 12. Was he a person of interest in a federal investigation and/or served a search warrant on or about January 26th?

Since October, sources have told us of an alleged federal obstruction of justice probe of Alabama Power and its CEO Mark A. Crosswhite related to the North Birmingham Bribery Trial.

We know authorities at Homeland Security received a detailed debriefing on Espy and the change of IP addresses at Balch. We were trying to confirm if a probe was completed, ongoing or closed.

Questions regarding Lineberry are particularly puzzling because evidence indicates he did not play a major role in the North Birmingham matter. Writes Forbes:

On the other matter related to the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal, Lineberry, who lived just over a mile from Overton Road where the FBI raid in Mountain Brook supposedly took place on January 26th, sadly killed himself.

We understand some law enforcement authorities may obscure locations to protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation.

Frankly speaking, Lineberry’s work in the North Birmingham Bribery Scandal was limited. From the invoices presented at the criminal trial, his total billable hours to set up the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy (AJE) amounted to less that 5 hours at a cost of under $2,000.

So, where do things stand at the moment? Forbes does his best to provide an answer -- and he even adds an intriguing question:

The radio silence does not confirm or negate anything.

Something deep is going on and sources tell us that the Matrix Meltdown between “Sloppy Joe” Perkins and his once-protégé Jeff Pitts has now allegedly spurred a federal investigation out of Florida.

This new development could impact Matrix’s premier client Alabama Power, which of course impacts its sister-wife Balch & Bingham.

Follow-up question: Is the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama now collaborating with counterparts in Florida?