By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
Highly skilled research featured on banbalch.com takes aim at Birmingham-based law firm, Balch & Bingham. Material meticulously crafted into a damning narrative chronicles some of the firms most questioned activities, including the Oliver Robinson bribery scandal and alleged subcontract problems in Mississippi.
“Balch & Bingham is currently under scrutiny in two federal probes: the Robinson Bribery Scandal; the other involves questionable subcontracts in Mississippi in relationship to the clean-up of the BP oil spill that happened in 2010,” according to the website.
But that’s not all.
The site details allegations against Balch in relation to a Russian-linked probe as well as allegations of conspiracy in the Burt Newsome case.
The site says its the work of an advocacy group that “is calling on the Trump Administration and Congressional Leadership to ban Balch & Bingham… from soliciting or lobbying Congress or the Administration immediately.”
The group also encourages Balch to conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of the firm and hold any spoiled apples accountable. Information provided on the website seems to point to a few of the “spoiled apples.”
Who’s behind all the research?
The site lists no members, no address or any contact info beyond a “tip line” encouraging those with inside information to make it available to the unknown cadres of actors. Those behind the nameless, faceless website seem to know much about Balch & Bingham’s internal activities.
“Someone’s spent a ton of money, to compile this information,” said a former federal investigator who asked not to be identified. “They have a specific goal… by pushing this into the public domain, they are daring prosecutors to take a closer look at Balch & Bingham. Whoever is behind this, they know more than what we’ve seen publicly.”
While no official organization is prominent on the site, the domain name, banbalch.com, is registered at godaddy.com under the name K.B. Forbes. A Google search returns a K.B. – Kevin Brendan – Forbes, who is executive director and co-founder of CDLU, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. CDLU stands for the Consejo de Latinos Unidos. The Alabama Political Reporter contacted Forbes and confirmed that he is part of the group that publishes the website.
“K.B. Forbes has become one of America’s most powerful advocates for the uninsured, chiefly by attacking hospitals’ practice of billing uninsured patients up to four times as much as they bill HMOs and Medicare for exactly the same services,” Mother Jones magazine says.
“Our hope is that Balch will start by focusing on their commitment to ‘mutual cooperation and openness and professionalism,’ and that they will resolve all matters including those involving the North Birmingham African-American community, Mississippi BP-related subcontracts, and the Burt Newsome conspiracy case,” the group says, beyond its call for accountability.
The website packed with court records, analysis and numerous news reports, provides an in-depth and unflattering look into one of the state’s leading law firms.
