Posted on 12/19/2007 1:59:23 PM PST by WoofDog123
BILOXI, Miss. -- Court records showed through ties to attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, P.L. Blake will earn $50 million.
The Sun Herald reported Blake is earning that money for clipping newspaper articles and alerting Scruggs to maneuvering in political "cloakrooms," as Scruggs put it, from Mississippi to Washington.
Scruggs has said that Blake will earn $50 million in fees over 20 years from Scruggs' share of tobacco settlements.
Mike Moore, who as Mississippi's attorney general guided the tobacco litigation, has said he was unaware Scruggs is paying Blake such a large sum.
Accounts of how Blake earned the money are vague and contradictory.
Even more surprising, Blake and Scruggs were unable to explain whether they sealed their business agreement with a handshake or in writing.
Court records also indicate Scruggs sent $10 million in initial tobacco payments to Blake, passing them through intermediary Joey Langston, a Booneville attorney who shared Scruggs' ride to fortune on Moore's tobacco train.
Scruggs is now facing bribery charges of his own.
The FBI also has searched Langston's office, but he has not been charged with a crime. The U.S. Justice Department charges Scruggs, in yet another dispute over attorney's fees, helped concoct a scheme to bribe a North Mississippi judge with $50,000.
The lawsuit, filed in March, involves $25.6 million from a settlement for State Farm policyholders over Hurricane Katrina damage.
Is Moore concerned about blowback from the Scrugg's funny money dealings with the tobacco settlement? Or might Moore have been involved in some of the strange dealings himself?
Exactly!
So the strings might just reach the Hillary $....w/o the big tobacco donor $$ her crash and burn may be even more a possibility!!! This is ripe for that lawyer writer’s next book, unless he is involved too! LOL
Grisham is a liberal.
$50 million?
Whoo-boy!
It’s going to be interesting to watch this story unfold.
Thank you for the link!
I see he went to State. ;o)
Neither do I.
"Scruggs' role was featured in a book and the Hollywood film, "The Insider."
Hmmmmm...Dickie might find out what it really feels like to be an "insider."
Running a google search on this Blake feller brings up some interesting blogs and message boards. I read that Blake once owned the largest grain elevator in Texas. Where in Texas????
Blake is connected up the wazoooo.
I tried to find a pic of him earlier, but wasn’t able to.
I didn’t try that hard, though...my time here is short.
When I have more time, I’m going to do a bit of research on this feller.
It certainly seems that he’s in the thick of it all.
“Is Moore concerned about blowback from the Scrugg’s funny money dealings with the tobacco settlement? Or might Moore have been involved in some of the strange dealings himself?”
reading through some of the cases against scruggs right now, I am not sure what to think, but I strongly suspect the entire tobacco class-action process, from the start in MS (ag moore) to the national level had to be corrupt.
a pic of blake
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071217/NEWS/712170333
can i post that link? it is gannett.
re post 30 - can I post a link to a gannett site? don’t want to do so if not allowed.
Look at who the big trial lawyers donate to. They make make donations to republicans but they are a drop in the bucket compared to the democrats. The main attorneys general were all democrats. We are talking billions of dollars directly benefiting democrat politicians and judges.
That link is to a picture of Dickie Scruggs, not P.L. Blake. Blake is much older. He’s been living in Alabama for the last 4-5 years, right outside Birmingham.
I hope that they reinstate hanging for this bunch!
LLS
The tobacco lawsuits were never about healthcare....this has always been about redistribution of wealth.
When I first saw that pic, I thought he looked eerily like Dickie. ;o)
Thank you for trying to find the pic.
I haven’t found one yet.
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