According to a press release Yellowhammer received tonight from the Public Affairs firm Rational 360, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama has indicated that charges are expected tomorrow against Mr. Joel Gilbert of the Balch & Bingham law firm in relation to the Oliver Robinson case.
This press release stated that Mr. Gilbert’s lawyer, Jack Sharman, issued a statement tonight proclaiming Mr. Gilbert’s innocence, which read:
“Joel Gilbert is innocent of these charges. He did not bribe anyone. This is a case that never should have been brought. Joel represented a client in a legal dispute with the EPA, a powerful and, in this case, over-reaching federal agency. Everything he did while representing that client was lawful and ethical. He is a longtime partner at a leading law firm. A lawyer with a reputation for honesty and integrity, he did what is routine for good counselors to do for corporate and individual clients every day – he engaged a consultant through a written contract to perform real and lawful services.”
Sharman, a partner at Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC, who heads the firm’s white-collar defense and corporate investigations practice, continued in his proclamation of Gilbert’s innocence, stating:
“The Government has the burden of proof at trial, not Joel, but the evidence – including emails, text messages, contracts, billing records, environmental testing and witness testimony – will prove that Joel is innocent.”
“We will tell the whole story at trial. Because of the recent adverse publicity about these events, however, a few basic facts should be noted.”
“The consulting contract at issue is both lawful and common. Balch & Bingham, Joel’s law firm, entered into a contract with the Oliver Robinson Foundation, on behalf of the firm’s client, Drummond Company, to help with a grassroots effort to understand what EPA was doing in North Birmingham and Tarrant and, where appropriate, to address factual inaccuracies and faulty science. Such contracts and efforts are legal under both federal and state law, including the Alabama Ethics Code. The Alabama Ethics Code is complex, but it explicitly permits public officials, including state legislators and their affiliates, to do consulting work for a fee – the type of arrangement that the Government is now trying to say is criminal.”
“The records will show that the payments under the contract to the Foundation were for community outreach work performed by the Foundation, not to bribe Mr. Robinson.”
As we reported at the time of Oliver Robinson’s plea deal in June, the U.S. Attorney’s press release at that time said an area of North Birmingham that includes Harriman Park, Fairmont, and Collegeville—and that was later expanded to include Tarrant and Inglenook—was found to have high levels of pollution. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated this area as a Superfund Site referred to as “35th Avenue Superfund Site.” In 2013, the EPA told five companies that they could be responsible for this pollution, which could cost millions of dollars to remediate. One of those companies was ABC Coke, a division of the Drummond Company. The U.S. Attorney’s release continued, stating:
Balch & Bingham represented Drummond and ABC Coke in relation to the 35th Avenue site. A partner at Balch & Bingham, identified in the charges as “Attorney #1,” coordinated the response to EPA’s actions on behalf of ABC Coke and Drummond Company. A Drummond Company executive, identified as “Drummond Employee #1,” was involved with the attorney in responding to EPA. They formed the Alliance for Jobs and the Economy as a tax-exempt corporation in 2015 to raise money to help fund their opposition to the EPA actions, according to the charges.
The strategy employed by the attorney and the Drummond executive focused on protecting ABC Coke and Drummond from the tremendous potential costs associated with being held responsible for pollution within the affected areas. They sought to accomplish this goal by working to prevent EPA from listing the 35th Avenue site on the National Priorities List and expanding the Superfund site into Tarrant and Inglenook.
The plan included advising residents of North Birmingham and public officials to oppose EPA’s actions. As part of the overall strategy, Balch & Bingham paid Robinson, through his non-profit foundation, to represent Balch & Bingham’s and its clients’ interests, exclusively, in matters related to EPA’s actions in North Birmingham. Over the course of the contract in 2015 and 2016, Balch & Bingham paid $360,000 to the foundation.
