The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller
Harper's
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED August 6, 2007
For the last week, we’ve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we examine a post-trial motion, filed in April 2007, asking Fuller to recuse himself based on his extensive private business interests, which turn very heavily on contracts with the United States Government, including the Department of Justice.
The recusal motion rested upon details about Fuller’s personal business interests. On February 22, 2007, defense attorneys obtained information that Judge Fuller held a controlling 43.75% interest in government contractor Doss Aviation, Inc. After investigating these claims for over a month, the attorneys filed a motion for Fuller’s recusal on April 18, 2007. The motion stated that Fuller’s total stake in Doss Aviation was worth between $1-5 million, and that Fuller’s income from his stock for 2004 was between $100,001 and $1 million dollars.
In other words, Judge Fuller likely made more from his business income, derived from U.S. Government contracts, than as a judge. Fuller is shown on one filing as President of the principal business, Doss Aviation, and his address is shown as One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama, the address of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse, in which his chambers are located.
Doss Aviation, Inc. (motto: “Total Quality Service Isn’t Expensive, It’s Priceless”) and its subsidiary, Aureus International, hold contracts with a number of government agencies. Quoting from defense counsel’s motion for recusal (emphasis in the original):
Doss Aviation, Inc. has been awarded numerous federal military contracts from the United States government worth over $258,000,000, including but not limited to: An August 2002 contract with the Air Force for $30,474,875 for Helicopter Maintenance, a November 2003 contract with the Navy for $5,190,960 for aircraft refueling, a February 2006 contract with the Air Force for over $178,000,000 for training pilots and navigators, and a March 2006 contract with the Air Force for $4,990,541.28 for training at the United States Air Force Academy. The February 2006 contract with the Air Force for over $178,000,000 is for 10 ½ years, but is renewable from year to year . . .
An Enterprise Ledger article dated April 3, 2005, states that “FBI agents, military and civilian pilots and medical professionals all over the world wear (Aureus International) products which are cut, sewn, inspected, bagged and shipped from its home in Enterprise.”
Doss Aviation and its subsidiaries also held contracts with the FBI. This is problematic when one considers that FBI agents were present at Siegelman’s trial, and that Fuller took the extraordinary step of inviting them to sit at counsel’s table throughout trial. Moreover, while the case was pending, Doss Aviation received a $178 million contract from the federal government.
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http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/08/hbc-90000762 Oct 19, 2007
Siegelman served as Alabama's Secretary of State from 1979 to 1987 and asAttorney General from 1987 to 1991. In his roles of registering corporations in Alabama and overseeing criminal investigations by the state, Siegelman had obtained evidence linking Fuller, Bush, and other top Alabama and Florida Republicans to drug trafficking and the beginning of election manipulation in Alabama favoring the GOP. Caylor claims that Mark E. Fuller, listed as Doss official in Montgomery, is the same person as Mark J. Fuller of Enterprise. Judge Mark Fuller's Enterprise residence was 10 Indigo Place.
Bert Barr, listed as Doss' registered agent, was Fuller's law firm partner in Enterprise. Fuller also inherited Cargo International, another drug running firm, from Wentworth.
Siegelman ran for Governor to go after the GOP mobsters who had bought their way into practically every state office, including the commissions that oversee and regulate dog and horse tracks, real estate, trucking, and business practices.
What we have discovered is that Judge Fuller inherited an extensive aircraft and money laundering network from one Clifford Wentworth who was busted for drug trafficking in the Drug Enforcement Administration's Operation Sunburn in 1981. In a deal worked out between then-Vice President George H. W. Bush, who was in charge of Ronald Reagan's "War on Drugs," Wentworth was sentenced by U.S. Judge for the Northern District of Florida Maurice Paul to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine with all but six months suspended. Wentworth, who served his short prison term at Eglin Air Force Base in North Florida, agreed to turn his entire air drug smuggling and money laundering operation over to Barry Seal, a contract CIA pilot, and the business network operated out of Enterprise, Alabama by current U.S. Judge Fuller. Wentworth was then ordered into the federal witness protection program and he continues to provide lucrative real estate and other services for top GOP officials in Florida and elsewhere. Seal was gunned down gangland-style at a halfway house in Baton Rouge after his conviction and agreement to turn state's evidence against the Medellin cartel and his U.S. government handlers, one of whom reportedly included Vice President Bush.
Using airfields in Dothan and Fort Rucker, Alabama, Fuller's network ensured a steady stream of drugs from Colombia and the Dominican Republic to enter the United States. Then-Alabama Attorney General Siegelman became aware of these network after being elected in 1987 and he started to crackdown.
Fuller's inherited criminal network included one money laundering operation disguised as a mobile phone firm, STN, which physically operated out of Dothan. Cassady Fuller & Marsh was Fuller's law firm in Enterprise. Most of Fuller's enterprises maintained their "DBA" (do business as) addresses in Enterprise. Another Fuller company, German Imports, was also a money laundering operation.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/fort-payne-al/T2RH9JNLR0T90Q0NFDOSS AVIATION, INC. 3320 W. Carefree Circle
Colorado Springs, CO
Phone 719-570-9804
Fax 719-570-1740
Press Release
Contact: Suzanne Schmidt FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Phone: 719-570-9804 4 P.M. GMT, April, 2006
Doss Aviation, Inc, of Colorado Springs, CO was awarded a US Air Force flight training contract potentially worth $178.2 million over 10 years. The program calls for the flight screening of US Air Force pilot candidates prior to their attendance at formal Air Force flight training courses. Doss will provide a turn-key operation that will provide flight training, aircraft maintenance, lodging, food service, 24/7 security, and fitness facilities at its 209,000 square foot facility at Pueblo Memorial Airport in Pueblo, CO. Doss will build up the training program to full capacity during the first 1 ½ years of operation. At its full operation, the Doss facility will train up to 1,700 officers per year in 45 company-owned aircraft. The operation will employ over 170 people.
According to Colonel Bernard Schwartz, the senior Air Force officer of the Doss contract, “This marks the first time that a base and flight training school have been contracted through a private company.” Previously, the Air Force contracted flight training programs to 600 aviation support companies throughout the country.
Company President and CEO, Mr. Frank Hunter, said, “This is a real coup for Doss Aviation. The competition was tough, but our hard work to build a model training facility paid off.” Mr. Marvin Stein, Chairman of the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation added, “This has been the product of two years of hard work. The impact that this Air Force program will have on our airport and the community will be phenomenal.”
http://www.dossaviation.com/page.asp?id=60&name=April%202006The Pork Barrel World of Judge Mark Fuller
Harper's
BY Scott Horton
PUBLISHED August 6, 2007
For the last week, we’ve been examining the role played by Judge Mark Everett Fuller in the trial, conviction, and sentencing of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman. Today, we examine a post-trial motion, filed in April 2007, asking Fuller to recuse himself based on his extensive private business interests, which turn very heavily on contracts with the United States Government, including the Department of Justice.
The recusal motion rested upon details about Fuller’s personal business interests. On February 22, 2007, defense attorneys obtained information that Judge Fuller held a controlling 43.75% interest in government contractor Doss Aviation, Inc. After investigating these claims for over a month, the attorneys filed a motion for Fuller’s recusal on April 18, 2007. The motion stated that Fuller’s total stake in Doss Aviation was worth between $1-5 million, and that Fuller’s income from his stock for 2004 was between $100,001 and $1 million dollars.
In other words, Judge Fuller likely made more from his business income, derived from U.S. Government contracts, than as a judge. Fuller is shown on one filing as President of the principal business, Doss Aviation, and his address is shown as One Church Street, Montgomery, Alabama, the address of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse, in which his chambers are located.
Doss Aviation, Inc. (motto: “Total Quality Service Isn’t Expensive, It’s Priceless”) and its subsidiary, Aureus International, hold contracts with a number of government agencies. Quoting from defense counsel’s motion for recusal (emphasis in the original):
Doss Aviation, Inc. has been awarded numerous federal military contracts from the United States government worth over $258,000,000, including but not limited to: An August 2002 contract with the Air Force for $30,474,875 for Helicopter Maintenance, a November 2003 contract with the Navy for $5,190,960 for aircraft refueling, a February 2006 contract with the Air Force for over $178,000,000 for training pilots and navigators, and a March 2006 contract with the Air Force for $4,990,541.28 for training at the United States Air Force Academy. The February 2006 contract with the Air Force for over $178,000,000 is for 10 ½ years, but is renewable from year to year . . .
An Enterprise Ledger article dated April 3, 2005, states that “FBI agents, military and civilian pilots and medical professionals all over the world wear (Aureus International) products which are cut, sewn, inspected, bagged and shipped from its home in Enterprise.”
Doss Aviation and its subsidiaries also held contracts with the FBI. This is problematic when one considers that FBI agents were present at Siegelman’s trial, and that Fuller took the extraordinary step of inviting them to sit at counsel’s table throughout trial. Moreover, while the case was pending, Doss Aviation received a $178 million contract from the federal government.
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http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/08/hbc-90000762