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Lawsuit claims Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford walked with a rigged bingo jackpot
 A Tuskegee woman is suing Milton McGregor's VictoryLand electronic bingo operation, alleging fraud when employees there escorted Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford to specific machines last month when he won more than $50,000.Sandra Howard's lawsuit in Macon County Circuit Court alleges that Langford won the money Aug. 28. That's 11 days after a federal magistrate in Birmingham ruled that Langford was unable to pay his attorneys in a federal bribery case, ordering the government to cover his legal bills. The lawsuit names Macon County Greyhound Park Inc. and its operating names of VictoryLand and Quincy's 777 as defendants. Langford is not listed as a defendant, though most of the allegations revolve around him. The lawsuit claims VictoryLand rigged the machines for Langford "in hopes of receiving political favor and to promote approval of business dealings" for affiliates of the Macon County Greyhound Park. The suit echoes claims in an unresolved 2007 suit filed by Cynthia Teel against VictoryLand. In that case, an Oct. 23, 2008, affidavit from a VictoryLand employee says officials at the Shorter facility manipulated a machine to guarantee payouts to certain people, including Langford, from 2006 to 2008. At the time, Langford called the Teel action "the most ridiculous lawsuit I have ever seen." Birmingham lawyer Ted Mann represents both Howard and Teel. Efforts to reach Mann and attorneys for VictoryLand were unsuccessful Tuesday. Michael Rasmussen, Langford's attorney in the federal criminal case, had no comment Tuesday on the claims in Howard's suit. Efforts to reach Langford were unsuccessful. Langford is set to go on trial Oct. 19 in federal court in Tuscaloosa to face charges that he accepted bribes during his term as Jefferson County Commission president. Prosecutors claim Langford steered county financing business and $7.1 million in fees to Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount. In return, prosecutors charge, Blount gave Langford $236,000 in cash, clothes and jewelry, sometimes using lobbyist and Langford friend Al LaPierre as a go-between. Posted by: Fred 2009-10-02 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=280132 |