Supreme Court suspends investigation into allegations of corruption at Mable Amos Trust Fund

In a lawsuit filed in 2022, relatives of Mable Amos, a former Alabama secretary of state, alleged that Regions Bank and its former trust director conspired to improperly charge exorbitant fees to Amos' trust .

Attention increased statewide when allegations surfaced that the children of Alabama Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton, a trustee, received scholarships from the trust.

On Friday, to everyone's surprise, the Alabama Supreme Court ended the investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by the trust.

The lawsuit claims Regional Bank began charging significantly increased fees in 2011 – a year after oil was discovered on the property. Fees skyrocketed from less than $8,000 in 2010 to more than $90,000 in 2011.

Other allegations accuse board members overseeing the trust of improperly benefiting from its scholarship program, with the children of several board members receiving scholarships. Reports indicate that Tom Albritton's daughter and son were among the beneficiaries, raising more than $130,000 to attend the University of Texas.

In a 2023 filing, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the regions and board members “engaged in acts of self-dealing or breached their fiduciary and other duties to the Trust by failing to prevent or prohibit self-dealing, or by authorizing and consenting to self-dealing and engaging in other acts and omissions in violation of the statutory and common law duties owed to the Trust.

“The Trustee and the Board of Trustees, jointly and severally, unlawfully awarded scholarships or grants to Albritton's children and paid or caused to be paid for scholarships or grants from the Mable Amos Fund totaling $135,000 so that his children can attend the University of Texas at Austin,” Marshall said in the filing.

Albritton is one of three members of the trust's board, alongside Regions Trust Director John Bell, named in the lawsuit, and Rick Clifton, Albritton's former law partner. Albritton's law firm was responsible for establishing the trust.

In 2023, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Greg Griffin appointed a special master to investigate allegations of self-dealing and corruption surrounding the Mable Amos trust fund. Griffin appointed Charles Price, a retired Montgomery County Circuit Court judge, as special master, and James White Sr., a certified public accountant from Birmingham, to review the trust fund's accounts and records.

The Alabama Supreme Court, in its decision, vacated the lower court's order requiring an investigation by a special master and a CPA into allegations of self-dealing by the trustees overseeing the scholarship fund. 'studies. In a unanimous opinion, Associate Judge Brady Mendheim said: “In summary, the circuit court's order referring all issues in these cases to a special master exceeded its discretion. »

Mendheim added: “As to dismissal of cases to be tried without a jury, the circuit court did not indicate that an 'exceptional condition' required dismissal.

The Mable Amos Trust Fund, worth about $8.2 million because of oil and gas wells on his south Alabama property, is intended to “fund or provide scholarships for young deserving men and women of this state (Alabama)…to assist them in attending any educational institution. »