TUSCALOOSA, Ala.–Alabama One Credit Union has added Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley and his deputy legal advisor to a federal lawsuit it filed earlier this year.
That suit alleges that public officials, enabled by the personal and direct participation of Gov. Bentley, conspired to attempt to coerce tens of millions of dollars in legal settlements from the credit union through improper and unwarranted regulatory sanctions after it received clean bills of health from state and federal regulators, according to a statement issued by the credit union.
In addition to the governor, defendants now include his chief legal advisor, David Byrne, Deputy Legal Advisor Carrie McCollum, State Sen. Gerald H. Allen, Administrator of the Alabama Credit Union Administration Sarah Moore, attorney Justice D. “Jay” Smyth III, attorney Albert G. Lewis III, former Alabama Credit Union Administration Administrator Larry Morgan, former Alabama One Credit Union employee Lori Ramos Baird, and attorney Bobby Cockrell.
The suit alleges that the public officials “grossly abused” their power and state positions solely to enrich a political and personal friend – Tuscaloosa plaintiff’s attorney Justice D. “Jay” Smyth, III, whom the credit union is alleging orchestrated the scheme to attempt to pressure and coerce Alabama One into settling five frivolous lawsuits that he and cohorts had filed against the credit union.
Details on that lawsuit can be found here.
“We have continued to examine the evidence and it points to the inescapable conclusion that Governor Bentley personally and directly participated in the conduct we allege in our complaint and that the scheme we allege emanated from the Governor’s office,” said Jeven Sloan, an attorney representing Alabama One Credit Union, in a statement. “The evidence that we have seen also demonstrates that the regulatory and governmental actions aimed at Alabama One and Mr. Carruth had nothing to do with any legitimate public purpose or government function, but rather were intended to further political and personal agendas. We will continue to gather and examine all of the relevant evidence and to hold all responsible parties accountable.”
As CUToday.info reported earlier, the Alabama One lawsuit alleges that secret meetings were held at the state capitol with the governor and his chief legal advisor, who is a former law partner and longtime friend of attorney Jay Smyth. These secret meetings, which the credit union alleges also included State Sen. Allen and other high-ranking officials, were held to directly discuss Alabama One and Smyth’s clients’ lawsuits against the credit union.
“Smyth’s campaign had one objective: convince his personal and political friends in powerful positions – Governor Bentley, Senator Allen, Byrne, and others – to use improper and unwarranted state regulatory pressure as a lever to coerce and extract settlements from Alabama One for Smyth, his partners, and his clients,” Alabama One said in its lawsuit.
The credit union said it has assembled evidence of the alleged campaign that includes improper use of state resources that can be seen in more than 100 e-mail communications and accounts of numerous in-person meetings replete with “defamatory falsehoods leveled against Alabama One.”
The suit was filed in Federal Court in Tuscaloosa on behalf of Alabama One and its CEO, John Dee Carruth, following what the credit union alleged were moves by the state to use the Alabama Credit Union Administration and a “weapon of destruction,” which would place Alabama One in conservatorship.
Alabama One and Carruth said they filed the lawsuit to seek recovery for the “injuries they have suffered as a result of the alleged sustained and relentless campaign of regulatory and governmental overreach to push a nongovernmental agenda.”