Where did the Siemens settlement funds go? Tis the question U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate wants answered and wants it answered now.
Judge Wingate issued subpoenas to:
Lightfoot, Franklin, & White, LLC
Winston Thompson & Associates, PLLC
Barry Howard, Esq.
Ice Miller LLP
Ted Henifin, Third-Party Receiver
City of Jackson (Office of the Mayor)
City of Jackson Department of Public Works
Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality
EPA - Region IV
Justice Department, Environmental & Natural Resources Division
The Court ordered those subpoenaed to produce within 30 days all records and communications regarding the Siemens settlement. Siemens settled a lawsuit with Jackson over the failed water meter project for $89.8 million.
The lawyers above collective received 30% of the settlement. Then-Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba repeatedly defended the massive fees, arguing they were paid on contingency because it was a risky case.
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22 comments:
Paper shredding and bleachbit in 3, 2, 1... Right?
This *could be* huge.
Will we know where the $30 million went?
If Judge Wingate does not have protection, he may need some. Seriously, I am thankful for him, but he is stepping on a LOT of toes, and I am worried about him.
In plain English, "someone" has a real problem, and if that someone is Chowke, trips on a Florida yacht will be the least of his problems.
Oh, shit. Just when we thought this issue was dead and buried.
Wingate should subpoena Lumumba.
Wow. This is a nightmare for everyone on the list. I’ll spoil it for you. Winston done spent every dime of his cut.
It just keeps getting worse for Chalkline. He must have thought he was already in Kush.
Free the $30 million. Right?
Am I the only one who thinks Wingate is a superb dumbass for waiting until a week after Lumumba was out of office to turn over this rock? He's had the past three years to ask this question.
What jurisdiction does judge Wingate have regarding this? Don’t we already know the City burned the money to cover general fund and water fund shortfalls when issued moratoriums?
He wants all information.
I’m not sure ive ever seen a judge draft and issue a subpoena - ever. Lots of lawyers lining up to milk this thing. Lightfoot is quaking in their alligator shoes about now. They have zero appetite for being under a microscope. Their clients won’t tolerate a scandal.
I've never seen a judge issue a subpoena from the bench. To be clear, the judge would absolutely have the legal authority to do this. But I've just never seen it. Usually subpoenas are issued on request of the parties to the Clerk's office (old school way); or, nowadays, the subpoenas are just signed and issued by the attorneys themselves (updates to the Federal rules in 2013 first allowed for signature by the attorneys without waiting on Clerk's office). But it's always the attorneys who are the ones requesting and/or issuing the subpoenas. If a Federal judge is taking the time to draft out a subpoena and issue it from the bench, then God help those people if they do not comply with that compulsory process. Knowing Judge Wingate, he will bring down the hammer on those people with massive contempt proceedings unless they give him exactly what has been subpoenaed.
How can money from a court action not be tracked, audited, and monitored? Here they are trying to do it from the back end, after all is said and done (and money spent).
Neither Ted nor Judge Wingate have tried to find the truth.
Clarion Ledger
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2021/07/30/jackson-tries-fix-water-system-siemens-settlement-largely-spent/7832536002/
Summary: $30M to Attorneys; $46M to General Fund, Enterprise Fund, or pay down City debt; $3.5M for sewer repairs; and $10.5 earmarked for water meters and billing fixes.
WLBT
https://www.wlbt.com/2022/06/28/142-million-siemens-settlement-funds-used-prop-up-water-sewer-sanitation-accounts/
Summary: $30M for attorneys; $36.7M set aside for compliance with water/sewer bond covenants; $14.25M transferred to Water/Sewer Enterprise Fund $7M± and Sanitation Fund $7M±. Balance left on June 13, 2022 was $8M±.
The City water/sewer fund and the sanitation fund were both hemorrhaging (w/s still is) and they were behind on everything. That's 95% of the reason that the O. B. Curtis WTP failed later that year and Ted came along to save us.
Ted is just playing dumb about any missing money and the Judge doesn't know any different. Ted has spent $150M from DC plus whatever revenue he can get from water/sewer and he's now operating month to month just like the City was before the failure.
If the Mayor got any money besides the Feds, it would be from lawyer kickbacks and/or garbage contract kickbacks. But I don't have access to any of his Cayman Island accounts.
Good test for the attorney client privilege and criminal activity exception.
Have always wondered if some of that $30m circuitous pathed its way back to one of Rukia's grift fronts and therefore back to the Lumumbas.
Rudy probably got his hands on it too. Better check his pockets before he leaves Jackson.
Where is Chokwe’s subpoena? The main player in all of this. His cut is in an offshore bank account the rumor mill tells me.
THAT is coming. They DID subp the "Office of the Mayor".
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