Warren Ballentine

Warren Ballentine (born May 13, 1973) is a former African American motivational speaker, attorney, political activist, and radio talk show host.

Biography

Early years

Ballentine was born and raised on Chicago's South Side, where he attended and graduated from Calumet High School in 1992. He is an alumnus of Chicago State University in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated from law school at Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law in Ada, Ohio. His current career intersects the legal world with the broadcast world. Ballentine joined the Iota Nu Sigma Alumni chapter of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Attorney Years

Upon completion of law school, Ballentine worked as a Prosecutor and as a Guardian ad litem before going into private practice, and has tried a multitude of cases including: Murder, Discrimination, Sexual assault, Police Brutality, Drunk Driving, Drugs, Gang violence, and Domestic Relations. Warren is admitted in multiple states in which he can practice law. After being admitted to the DC Bar in 2004, his license was suspended for failure to pay his annual dues. But he is still licensed in multiple states.^[1]

Radio career

Ballentine's, The Warren Ballentine Show, was syndicated in 37 media markets through Radio One, and was one of the highest-rated urban talk shows in the nation. The show had been covered numerous times by the media since it hit the airwaves.

On his show he discussed ideas and issues targeted not just to the African-American audience, but to a wider audience as well. Ballentine had championed the call for action for the Jena 6 and called for the "National Economic Blackout".^[2]

Ballentine was described by The New York Times as "one of black talk radio’s new stars".^[3] He led the Radio One (Company)|Radio ONE national voter registration campaign. Covering both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Conventions, as well as the Congressional Black Caucus; Ballentine’s show had featured such high-profile guests as President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton, and Allen Gravitt. Additionally, Ballentine was a recurring guest and correspondent for CNN and Fox Business News.

Controversy

On Oct. 16, 2009, Ballentine, according to published reports, told Panamanian Juan Williams "You can go back to the porch, Juan. You can go back. It’s ok."^[4][5][6]

As of January 2013, The Warren Ballentine Show is no longer on the Radio One network. His show was cancelled after being indicted on charges that he participated in a scheme to defraud mortgage lenders of $9.7 million.

As of October 25, 2014, Warren Ballintine was convicted of defrauding mortgage lenders. http://www.wral.com/radio-host-convicted-of-alleged-10-million-fraud/14113039/

References