MIAMI, Feb. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CDLU Chairman Ernesto Pichardo called on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to revoke and suspend all licenses granted to Southern Company, including those tied to the Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, calling the company's alleged criminal misconduct a “national security threat.”
“In November, we anonymously received financial and internal documents showing unequivocally that Southern Company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in a two-month period to threaten and terrorize innocent individuals, including young children, using a network of criminal goons and paid stooges. The documents have independently been verified and submitted to both the U.S. Department of Justice and the NRC,” Pichardo, a respected Civil Rights champion, stated.
The alleged RICO enterprise appears to have relied heavily on the law firm Balch & Bingham and the consulting firm Matrix, LLC, founded by Joe Perkins.
Secret contracts allegedly paying Perkins and his affiliated entities $2.2 million a year without the need to invoice led to the eventual ouster in November of Alabama Power CEO Mark A. Crosswhite, a former Balch partner. Alabama Power is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company.
“At a minimum, the NRC should hold evidentiary hearings. Ironically or intentionally, Southern Company is represented by Balch & Bingham before the NRC. A former Balch partner who represented Southern is sitting in federal prison for money laundering and bribery, while another ex-Balch attorney who represented Southern will be sentenced next month for alleged possession of graphic and repulsive kiddie porn,” noted Pichardo.
Balch was founded over a century ago by the brother of the president of Alabama Power and is called the sister-wife, conjoined twin of Southern Company. Balch has offices in the Alabama Power headquarters.
“We believe Southern Company Chairman and CEO Tom Fanning is an inherently good man who was a victim of this out-of-control RICO enterprise. Before he retires next month, Fanning should fire and terminate both Joe Perkins and Balch. The cancer of corruption and high crimes needs to be eliminated,” Pichardo added.
Last August news reports revealed that Fanning and his then-girlfriend were allegedly spied on in 2017 in a surveillance operation allegedly authorized by Alabama Power and conducted by operatives allegedly working for Matrix. The alleged objective was to obtain photographic evidence that Fanning was bisexual and possibly blackmail him. The effort backfired because Fanning is a heterosexual male.
“Blackmailing corporate executives and those next in line appear to be a serious problem for Southern Company, especially when dealing with nuclear facilities and national security. Just a few weeks ago, Joe Perkins appears to have been at Alabama Power headquarters, allegedly acting like he owned the place,” Pichardo said.
Last year, Southern Company hired King & Spalding to conduct a deep internal criminal probe. Since 2021, reports state that Alabama Power and its ex-CEO were allegedly being investigated for obstruction of justice.
In recent weeks, multiple victims of Southern Company’s criminal RICO enterprise have filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Southern Company, has been beset by cost overruns of $16 billion and a delay of over 6 years for the implementation of two new reactors.
In 1993, Pichardo won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision for religious freedom and Civil Rights after his Afro-Caribbean faith came under attack due to blatant intolerance and discrimination by racists and religious bigots. Pichardo has been a member of the Board of Directors of the CDLU since 2003.
