Love, money and the gang

Love, money and the gang
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

The eighth week of a federal corruption trial had a surprise ending with the nine defen­dants resting their case without most calling any defense wit­nesses, but it also had some in­teresting quotes, comments and tidbits that did not make it into daily stories in the Mont­gomery Advertiser.

Below are some of those comments and tidbits from the eighth week of the federal cor­ruption trial of VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor, two of his lobbyists, four current or former state senators and two others.
How he rolls

"It's not the way I roll, but some people give money to the party that they think is going to reduce their taxes," McGregor attorney Sam Heldman said of political contributions.

Love interests

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson questioned how Sen. Quinton Ross fit into the al­leged conspiracy if he was just pushing hard to raise money for his campaign. Ross, accord­ing to the testimony of a wit­ness, said he was "not feeling the love" after sponsoring gam­bling legislation in 2009.

"Why couldn't it be that he was more interested in love than he was the bill," Thomp­son asked a prosecutor.

An attorney for Ross, D- Montgomery, told the judge he was glad he waited to make that comment until after Ross' wife left the courtroom. His at­torneys have said he was try­ing to raise funds for his 2010 re-election campaign.

The gang

Jimmy Judkins, attorney for lobbyist Bob Geddie, referred to Gilley, Massey and Pouncy as the "criminal gang" or the "Gilley gang."

Mom and Dad

Ross, according to testimony and wiretapped conversations, called Country Crossing devel­oper Ronnie Gilley, and his lob­byists, Jarrod Massey and Jennifer Pouncy, trying to raise funds.

Massey and Gilley said they did not return Ross' calls. Pouncy said he was agi­tated they would not call him back and he became increas­ingly demanding and aggres­sive.

"It was clear when Ross wasn't getting what he wanted from Massey and Pouncy, he went from mom to dad," said Eric Olshan, prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Jus­tice's Public Integrity Section.

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Duped

Lewis Gillis, an attorney for Ross, said Massey and Gilley "duped" Jennifer Pouncy, a lobbyist who worked for Mas­sey who has also pleaded guilty.

"They took advantage of her," Gillis said.

Several attorneys have said they feel for Pouncy, who had a child in 2009, and feel she was caught up in the criminal acti­vities of her employer.

"The passion I have for (Ross), I could have passion for her," Gillis said of Pouncy.

Where's the mon­ey

Jim Parkman, attorney for Sen. Harri Anne Smith, ques­tioned FBI forensic accountant Philip Harrod about what hap­pened to $25,000 that Gilley said he gave to lobbyist Mi­chael Sullivan in 2008.

Gilley and Massey have tes­tified that Gilley gave $25,000 to Sullivan to get to Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, to stop an anti-gambling bill intro­duced by Smith. Harrod said $15,000 was taken out in cash. He said about $7,300 went into a personal investment account at Merrill Lynch for Sullivan. The agent said the remainder of the money remained in a banking account. Harrod said that much money was never deposited into Singleton's ac­count and none was deposited into Smith's account.

Plenty of money

Casino operator Rick Gra­ham, in a conversation with Gilley secretly recorded by the FBI, said he had 90,000 square feet in Piedmont and wanted to be allowed to have 2,000 electronic gambling machines. Graham, who operated in Walker County, said McGregor told him not to open the Pied­mont location but later said they would let him have 1,250 machines. Graham said he told McGregor that would not work and said McGregor later re­scinded the offer.

"There's plenty of money to go around here," Graham said.

Gilley told him he did not know about the disagreement with McGregor. Graham talked about a meeting in which he said Gilley stood up and said he and McGregor were not togeth­er.

Gilley said he had $90 mil­lion on the ground at Country Crossing, but all of the doors are locked.

Graham said all he had was $12 million to $15 mil­lion.

Exposed

McGregor, in another wire­tapped conversation, told his lobbyist, Tom Coker, that he has more financial exposure than everyone in the state. He tells Coker he has borrowed and spent "so much money."

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"Here I am on the damn note for tens of millions I've got to pay back with interest," McGregor said.

Polling well

McGregor, in a wiretapped conversation with top officials with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, said polls show people in the state want gambling. He said Alabama was an anti-gam­bling state 10 years earlier, but he thinks that has changed in part because of success in Mis­sissippi.

Not greedy

Elliot Maisel, who said he had interest in the greyhound park in Mobile, asked McGre­gor what they were going to do about Jefferson County, where McGregor had a facility, but other people wanted to open casinos in Bessemer and other communities. Some operators were trying, as different par­ties negotiated and worked on the gambling legislation, to en­sure that other facilities would be allowed in Jefferson County.

"We'll control that," McGre­gor told Maisel.

McGregor said legislators came to him and said they needed to have more than one license in Jefferson County to appease people to move for­ward with the legislation.

"I'm not a greedy person and these are my friends saying if we are going to pass it, we're going to have to have more than your location," he said to Maisel.

One less juror

The jury will have at least one fewer juror when it begins its deliberations. Attorneys acknowledged one of them was no longer there, but would not comment. They said the issue was discussed in private, and they would not delve into it. The jury originally consisted of 12 members and five alter­nates.

Circles and ar­rows

Bill Baxley, an attorney for Coker, asked FBI Special Agent Nathan Langmack about a graphic on a monitor in the courtroom that outlined in­formation from calls between defendants and others involved in the case.

Langmack asked Baxley if he was talking about the power point.

"I don't know what you call it, but it's got circles and num­bers and arrows on it," Baxley said.
Baxley asked Langmack to figure out a percentage related to some of those calls. Baxley wrote it down longhand as he figured it out while Langmack pulled a calculator out of his pocket. Baxley said he did not know how to use a computer or a cellphone.

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Baxley turned the calcula­tion over as evidence and joked with the judge that he would like to be graded.

"You'll get your grade," Thompson said.

Lobbying effort

Richard Whitaker of the Medical Association of Alaba­ma said Coker was paid for about 10 years to be a lobbyist for the association. He said he believes Coker was paid about $3,000 a month.

Sincerity

When Judkins began ques­tioning Langmack, the agent told the attorney it was nice to meet him.

Judkins told the agent he did not think he was sincere.

When Judkins finished ques­tioning the agent, Langmack said "It was nice meeting you by the way, sir."


Legal pad

Smith said Parkman told her to "hush" when she was mak­ing comments to him during the case.

She said she began writing down her thoughts on a "big notepad" to tell her side of the story.

Smith said it was difficult to listen to the "untruths." She said she became anxious be­fore each witness, wondering what they would say.

"You told the truth," Smith said of her lawyers. "The truth is always the best defense."