One of Scruggs’ co-conspirators in the bribery said Delta businessman P.L. Blake ensured Scruggs would pay Circuit Judge Henry Lackey $50,000 for an order that would send a legal-fee dispute to an arbitration panel rather than a jury.
Blake has testified – in yet another fee dispute between Scruggs and a fellow attorney – that Scruggs is supposed to pay him $50 million over 20 years from tobacco-settlement fees for monitoring news reports and public sentiment during the politically charged negotiations Scruggs led in the late 1990s.
Biggers also referred to judicial bribery co-conspirator Timothy Balducci, who agreed to cooperate with the investigation after he learned his conversations with Judge Lackey had been taped.
“When I see, from this case and others, that people who are not lawyers are getting considerable amounts of money from a legal settlement and – you know, it intrigues me as to how – what they’re doing to earn it, if anything,” Biggers said.
“Balducci said that you know where a lot of bodies are buried. If you want to uncover some of those bodies, it might help you in the future in this case and this sentencing.”
Biggers said Scruggs so readily and easily agreed to the bribe that he seemed to have done this before. Scruggs remains under investigation for alleged bribery of Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter.
“You found out that Judge Lackey is not a man to bribe,” Biggers said. “You picked the wrong man to try to bribe.”
Why does a multimillionaire risk reputation, freedom?
Scruggs to do time with Minor?
Sun Herald
6/28/8
Magnolia Tribune
