The $602 million, Tuscaloosa, Ala.-based Alabama One Credit Union filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Alabama public officials – including Sen. Gerald H. Allen (R-Ala.), Gov. Robert Bentley's chief legal advisor David Byrne and local attorneys – alleging conspiracy and abuse of power from Gov. Bentley's office.
The suit, filed in federal court in Tuscaloosa on behalf of Alabama One and its CEO, John Dee Carruth, alleged the defendants attempted to coerce tens of millions of dollars in legal settlements out of the credit union despite state and federal regulators deeming it a safe and sound institution. The credit union stated in the suit that the public officials' abuse of power began in November 2013 and stemmed from their desire to benefit their political and personal friend, attorney Justice D. "Jay" Smyth, III, whom Alabama One states put pressure on the credit union to settle five frivolous lawsuits filed by Smyth and others affiliated with him.
Alabama One's suit stated that Smyth held secret meetings at Alabama's state capitol with Gov. Bentley, Byrne and Allen to discuss the credit union and Smyth's clients' lawsuits against it, which "should cause every Alabama resident substantial concern. And it speaks volumes about what Alabama One has gone through," according to the suit.
"The investigations and threatened sanctions that the ACUA has brought against Alabama One have nothing to do with the public interest or any legitimate government function," the suit read. "They are, rather, the result of a regulatory system captive to and manipulated by the personal interests of a politically-connected lawyer, Smyth, his partners and co-counsel, Governor Bentley, Byrne and Senator Allen."
According to the lawsuit, the allegedly frivolous lawsuits filed by Smyth and others blamed Alabama One for the individual plaintiffs who did business with Danny Ray Butler, a convicted felon whose business loans from the credit union inadvertently exceeded the regulatory cap on the percentage of loans to a single member.
Alabama One filed the suit following threats from the Alabama Credit Union Administration to place the credit union under conservatorship. In addition to Sen. Allen, Byrne and Smyth, the suit named the following defendants: ACUA Administrator Sarah Moore; Lewis Smyth Winter Ford LLC of Tuscaloosa; Smyth law partner Albert G. Lewis, III; Bobby Cockrell, a Tuscaloosa plaintiff's attorney; former ACUA Administrator Larry D. Morgan; and Doug Key, president/CEO of the $140 million Mutual Savings in Hoover, Ala., who served as a temporary CEO for Alabama One in 2014.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
