Litigation

An intriguing question has emerged concerning Forge Consulting President John T. Bair.

Did Bair make a move to cover up his employment history to help John Edwards and Forge Consulting to "fill in the gap" in time between Edwards leaving the practice of law to become a Senator (in 1999) and 2003 (when Forge Consulting which was founded)  a point first raised in the "pay for testimonial" scandal over a year ago.

Background:

1. The website WhiteHouseForSale.org, a project of Public Citizen, identified, and continues to identify, John Bair as a bundler for Edwards
2. Bair and Forge extended hospitality to Edwards which included the use of its offices Download buffalo_news_jan_8_2007_forgeedwards_connection.pdf
3. Forge Consulting made use of a purported testimonial from Edwards to solicit structured settlements business from trial lawyers and tort victims, on its web site Download forge_consulting_testimonial_web_page.pdf UNTIL July 13, 2007
4. John Bair used the purported testimonial from Edwards in letters to New York State Trial Lawyers. Download forge_feb_21_2007_letterny_statejohn_bair.pdf
5. This author repeatedly questioned the the testimonial due to the mathematical mismatch in Edwards' "relationship" with Forge and did not get a response (see John Edwards tab on right). This author believes that the evidence suggests that there is no way that John Edwards could have used Forge Consulting for structured settlements as he had long stopped practicing in his law practice by the time Forge Consulting was founded.
6. Two weeks ago I reported about a political fund raiser where the President of Forge Consulting, John Bair was boasting about how proud he was to have Edwards "in his camp".
7. Bair and his wife Amy are listed among the only 40% of Edwards fat cats and bundlers who have received refunds of their personal contributions. The data was compiled by DBKP from Open Secrets.org. As DBKP reports, "for a candidate that ran on a ?Two Americas? theme, when it came time for refunds, only One America got campaign refund checks, while the other America was kept in the dark".

It has just been discovered that John Bair has a listing on on the Business Networking website Linked In, in which he claims professional experience as owner of Forge Consulting back to May 1999. The listing implies exclusively plaintiff representation.

Food For Thought

1. Here is John Bair's Linked In entry as it existed on August 25, 2008  Download linkedin__john_bair.pdf
2. Here is a fax cover sheet from the office of John T. Bair, EPS Settlements Group dated March 5, 2002. This author would also swear under penalty of perjury that Bair was representing the defendant in the case. Download fax_cover_sheet_epsjohn_bair_352002.pdf
3. Here is the September 24, 2003  Buffalo News article, that Bair was interviewed for that establishes that Forge was founded in 2003 Download forge_consulting_buffalo_news_article_9242003.pdf
4. If that's not enough, how about the bio of Bair's partner Spooner Phillips
   
5. Wayback Internet Archive  Download internet_archive_wayback_machineforge_consulting.pdf shows Forge Consulting website did not exist before 2003
6. The testimony of any officer of EPS Settlements Group would refute John Bair's employment history and establish the precise dates that he started with them.

What other explanation is there for John Bair to omit EPS from his employment history and "move the chains" back to 1999?