Bill Clinton
Georgia District Attorney (DA) Fani Willis has the tools and integrity to achieve at least a measure of justice in the Southern Company accounting-fraud scandal, especially as it applies to CEO Tom Fanning and his reported efforts to exit the company this spring with a $100-million retirement package in tow. But justice, on a larger scale, might be more achievable if a certain former president of the United States would butt out.
The former POTUS in question is William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton. And longtime Alabama attorney/banker/entrepreneur Donald Watkins - who has become a leading voice in online journalism about the Southern Company scandal -- says Clinton has been operating behind the scenes to help Southern Company sweep its ugly mess out of sight.
If that is proven -- and Watkins has stellar sources on this story -- count me as one longtime Democrat, and Bill Clinton supporter, who is highly pissed off. And I suspect such actions could give Clinton a heap of legal trouble, which you'd think he would know how to avoid. More on Clinton and my personal views on all of this in a moment. For now, let's turn to the Watkins post, under the headline "DA Fani Willis is Positioned to Stop Tom Fanning’s Heist of Fraud-Tainted “Retirement” Money." Consider this troubling passage:
Reportedly, the Southern Company laundered $5 million through a Washington, D.C. law firm for the purpose of paying former president Bill Clinton to quash any federal law-enforcement action by the Department of Justice into the racketeering conduct and accounting-fraud scheme alleged in pending criminal complaints.
Southern Company officials privately brag about how they have Merrick Garland and his DOJ Criminal Division under their control.
You could call me a Bill Clinton "fanboy." He got my vote (and Mrs. Schnauzer's vote) in the 1992 presidential election, and we've backed Democrats for president in every election since, including Hillary Clinton in 2016.
As regular readers know, I'm an avowed liberal. I'm also happy to answer to the term "progressive," even "libtard." I consider it a compliment to be called "woke." It's not that I wish ruination on the Republican Party and its adherents; we only have two major political parties, and we need both of them functioning at a high level, capable at any moment of providing the country with the leadership and governance it needs. And that is where the postmodern Republican Party loses me. I can't think of a single Republican at the moment, who is capable of governing. In fact, I'm not sure Republicans, in general, are even interested in governing. That's why, I suspect, they seek to keep their base in a constant state of fear, agitation, and grievance. They have no other message to offer, and that is not good for the country. In this instance, "they" includes Donald Trump, Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mitch McConnell, and many more.
If you had asked me, "Who was the best U.S. president in your lifetime?" I would have immediately said "Bill Clinton." I know that thought makes some people want to throw up in their mouths a little bit, but I believe history supports that assessment. And that's why I find the highlighted passage above so troubling.
We will have more thoughts on Bill Clinton, Southern Company and related matters in future posts. But Tom Fanning is the topic of the moment, so let's turn to that -- and Donald Watkins:
If things go according to plan, Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning will depart from the Southern Company on May 24, 2023, with a “retirement” package of cash, bonuses, stock options, and other incentives with an estimated value of up to $100 million. This payout is the biggest and boldest heist of fraud-tainted corporate funds by a New York Stock Exchange /Fortune 500 company in two decades.
It is also Thomas Fanning’s last “con job.”
Fanning has led the Southern Company in a massive accounting-fraud scheme that has ballooned to $27 billion over a 10-year period. The company has been faking profitability since 2017.
For years, the Southern Company has paid dividends from borrowed money rather than earnings. Its total fixed debt and credit lines of $63 billion far exceeds its self-reported $59 billion total gross operating income in 2022.
Why should this matter to investors, consumers, and the public at large? We are, after all, talking about the second largest utility company in the United States. Writes Watkins:
The company’s physical plants and hard assets are inflated in value, given the nature of these assets, their age, and their challenges in meeting today’s greenhouse-gas emissions reduction requirements, state and federal
The Southern Company’s financial future is tied to new operating income that it expects to generate from Units 3 and 4 at its Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant near Waynesboro, Georgia, when they are placed into commercial service. Because of shoddy construction work, basic engineering failures, and poor construction management, these units are seven years behind schedule and $21 billion over budget.
The Southern Company was forced to demolish a brand new $7.5 billion coal gasification facility in Kemper, Mississippi in 2021 because of the same failures the company is experiencing with Units 3 and 4 at Vogtle.
Rather than firing Tom Fanning for losing the $28.5 billion on two showcase construction projects, the Southern Company elected to engage in an ongoing accounting-fraud scheme to create a mirage of profitability and success. This mirage has kept its stock prices artificially high and has allowed the company to borrow money that it otherwise would not be entitled to receive, in the absence of the accounting-fraud scheme.
Fanning and his top lieutenants are the subjects of three criminal complaints. That sounds serious, and it is, even if the DOJ doesn't seem to have the stomach to do anything about it -- or maybe Bill Clinton convinced DOJ insiders not to do anything about it. Writes Watkins:
Since January 27, 2023, the Southern Company and several of its top officials have been the subjects of at least three separate criminal racketeering, accounting fraud, and antitrust complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). One such criminal complaint was filed by my son and me.
On April 13, 2023, a criminal complaint was filed with Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani T. Willis against several Southern Company officials for violations of Georgia criminal laws for the same acts of racketeering and accounting fraud.
While the federal and Fulton County complaints are pending, the Fulton County case appears to be the most promising.
Unlike U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is weak, inept, too often “missing-in-action,” and generally not respected b in the prosecutorial profession, District Attorney Fani Willis has demonstrated her courage, strength, professionalism, preparedness, and intellectual acumen as a lawyer and tough district attorney who can't be bought off.
Reportedly, the Southern Company laundered $5 million through a Washington, D.C. law firm for the purpose of paying former president Bill Clinton to quash any federal law enforcement action by the Department of Justice into the racketeering conduct and accounting fraud scheme alleged in the pending complaints.
Southern Company officials privately brag about how they have Merrick Garland and his DOJ Criminal Division under their control.
There is our guy, Bill Clinton, again. Why does he keep showing up in this? Why would a former "Leader of the Free World," who is from Arkansas, be interested in a scandal that revolves mostly around Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. For the record, Arkansas is not even in Southern Company's six-state service area. Southern Company hardly is a bastion of progressive thinking, so again, why is Bill Clinton in the picture?
We will address Bill Clinton and related issues down the line, but for now, it's back to Tom Fanning:
In 2003, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) froze all of HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy’s cash and assets eight months before he was indicted on 85 felony counts arising from a $2.7 billion accounting-fraud scheme at the company. Scrushy’s cash and other assets were frozen from March 2003 until we defeated the SEC in May 2003 following a hearing on the government’s motion to make the asset freeze permanent.
In 2005, Scrushy was acquitted of all criminal charges, while 14 HealthSouth subordinate executives pled guilty to perpetrating the $2.7-billion fraud scheme.
Fortunately, District Attorney Fani Willis has the opportunity and means to get the Securities Division of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to file a regulatory enforcement complaint in state court against the Southern Company and its board members for an injunction to freeze the payment of Fanning’s retirement package, pending her office’s investigation into the companion criminal complaint.
The Securities Division of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger regulates securities activity statewide. The Division protects against investment fraud and promotes financial literacy.
Freezing Fanning's cash and assets is a lot better than trying to claw this tainted money back after he leaves the Southern Company on May 24, 2023. This law-enforcement action would protect the public interest and safety.
