Birmingham Mayor Arrested on Federal Charges

The mayor of Alabama's largest city, a player in a multibillion dollar sewer bond deal that drove the surrounding county to the brink of bankruptcy, was arrested on Monday on federal criminal charges, an FBI spokesman said.
Larry Langford was taken into custody around 7 a.m. Monday, spokesman Paul Daymond said. It wasn't immediately clear what charges Langford faces.
Authorities are planning to say more at a morning news conference.
Langford was president of the Jefferson County Commission before he was elected mayor last year. Birmingham is in Jefferson County.
He was accused in a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit of taking more than $156,000 from a friend whose firm made millions on risky bond transactions with the county for a new sewer system.
Those bonds went sour as the housing market plunged this year and credit costs skyrocketed and have pushed the state's largest county to the brink of bankruptcy.
The county is trying to avoid filing what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history over $3.2 billion in bond debt, nearly double the record of $1.7 billion set in 1994 by Orange County, Calif.
The SEC accused Langford of taking the undisclosed payments and benefits from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount, whose firm collected more than $6.7 million in fees on county bond transactions. The money was allegedly routed through Al LaPierre, a lobbyist who is a friend of Langford.
Langford, Blount and LaPierre have denied any wrongdoing and asked that the lawsuit be thrown out. more