By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on March 28, 2023
An Editorial Opinion
Whenever a federal law enforcement agency fails to ask a single question about officially reported criminal conduct, including financial crimes, and fails to ask for documentation evidencing the reported financial crimes, the case has been “fixed.”
Whenever a chief compliance officer at a New York Stock Exchange/Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-regulated company fails to ask a single question about reported accounting fraud at his/her publicly traded company in the aftermath of HealthSouth, Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco, the case has been “fixed.”
Whenever an “independent” law firm hired by the offending New York Stock Exchange/SEC regulated company to conduct the internal investigation referenced in JM, §9-28-900 for a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) fails to ask a single question about reported accounting fraud and fails to request the documentation evidencing such fraud, the case has been “fixed.”
Why has no federal regulatory or law enforcement agency under President Joe Biden’s watch expressed an interested in the accounting fraud schemes at the Southern Company? Maybe, it's because Deloitte & Touche signed off on the company’s 10-Qs and 10-Ks and they have full confidence in Deloitte & Touche? Well, Ernst & Young signed off on HealthSouth’s 10-Qs and 10-Ks. Authur Andersen signed off on Enron’s and WorldCom’s 10-Qs and 10-Ks. PricewaterhouseCoopers signed off on Tyco’s 10-Qs and 10-Ks. All of these companies were well-respected accounting firms. Their sign-offs were meaningless and only served to hinder the eventual discovery of the accounting fraud schemes.
Has Joe Biden’s DOJ agreed, in principle, to forgive the Southern Company for its long-running, multi-state racketeering enterprise and massive, multi-year accounting fraud schemes in exchange for: (a) the payment of multibillion dollar fines and penalties, (b) the purging of scapegoat executives like former Alabama Power Company CEO Mark Crosswhite and a dozen or so other Southern Company senior management executives, (c) the “retirement” of Tom Fanning, and (d) the customary promise from the Southern Company of good behavior going forward?
What role, if any, did Southern Company board member Ernest Moniz play in getting the non-prosecution deal done? Moniz was Secretary of Energy from 2013 to 2017 under the Barack Obama-Joe Biden administration. Biden is very fond of Moniz. He joined the Southern Company board of directors on March 1, 2018.
Was the Southern Company’s appointment of Chris Womack as incoming CEO, effective on May 24, 2023, a goodwill offering to the Biden administration’s diversity agenda and a public relations gimmick to fumigate the foul smell of DOJ’s planned non-prosecution deal for the Southern Company?
Did Bill Clinton, a Southern Company "special friend" with strong connections to Biden’s DOJ, pull off the ultimate “fix” for the Southern Company, and at what cost to the company's customers?
Is the Southern Company really "too big to prosecute"?
How much money are the minions in the Southern Company’s sphere of influence obligated to raise for Joe Biden’s re-election campaign in this non-prosecution scenario?
In light of these burning questions, did Joe Biden's DOJ "fix" this criminal case for the Southern Company?
You decide!