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Prosecutors and the attorney for State Rep. Jack Williams, R-Vestavia Hills, are working on a resolution to Williams’ case stemming from his April arrest by the FBI on corruption charges.
“Our office and Jack Williams and his attorneys are still working on resolving the case,” said Doug Howard, special assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.
Williams told the Voice his attorney, Jake Watson of Huntsville, was handling all of the speaking on the matter, but told a reporter he “didn’t see anything I disagreed with” in comments Watson made to other news outlets saying he didn’t believe the case would go to trial.
An employee at Watson’s law office told the Voice that Watson was out of the country until Aug. 4.
On April 2, Williams was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, accused, along with several other state lawmakers, of using political clout to force Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover a medical procedure offered by a company that previously opened three diabetes clinics in Alabama, including one in Hoover.
Trina Health, a California company, opened the clinics and offered outpatient intravenous insulin infusion therapy (OIVIT), but soon after they opened, Blue Cross announced they would not cover the treatment.
At that point, according to a news release from Howard’s office, Gilbert recruited Micky Hammon, the State House Majority Leader at the time, and others to try and force BCBS to change their mind. Hammon, according to the release, received money from Gilbert, and then asked Williams, the chairman of the Commerce and Small Business Committee of the Alabama House of Representatives, to hold a public hearing on a bill, written by Gilbert, that would force insurers to cover the treatment, according to the release.
“Williams also knew of the payments to Hammon and acted in part to help Hammon, who, as everyone in the scheme knew, was experiencing grave financial problems,” the release stated.
Williams was arrested along with Alabama lobbyist Martin “Marty” Connors and California businessman G. Ford Gilbert in April. On July 24, another state lawmaker, Rep. Randy Davis, R-Daphne, was indicted on conspiracy to commit bribery and interstate travel and communications in aid of racketeering, according to a news release from Howard’s office. Davis, according to the indictment, stood to gain from the endeavor and worked with Hammon and Gilbert to force BCBS to change their policy. Gilbert was also charged with bribery charges and Connors was charged with making a false statement to a federal agent, according to the release.
Williams was not charged in the superseding indictment, but the April charges still stand against him.
Williams ran unsuccessfully against Steve Ammons for a seat on the Jefferson County Commission, and his term in the state legislature ends at the end of this year. Williams has served in the state legislature since 2004.
