Ashley Madison hack list: Alabama adultery capital of the United States

The state of Alabama has been revealed as the adultery capital of the US after it was found to have – by a long shot – the highest levels of credit card activity on the extra-marital cheating website Ashley Madison among all 50 states.

A ranking of the states was compiled by a Reddit contributor who collated the information using credit card details leaked on the web and US census data. It showed that of the millions of customers in the US paying regularly to use the site, Alabama State had the most, followed by Colorado and then the District of Colombia.

The level of usage was so high that even a city mayor was implicated in the data dump. The Mayor of Harselle in Morgan County Don Hall denied signing up for the site and said he couldn't explain how his name had made it on to the list. "I have no explanation for why I'm on the list," he told the Decatur Daily.

William K Bradford, a partner at Bradford Ladner law firm in Mountain Brook Alabama said he was not overly surprised that Alabama had been named as the most unfaithful state and said it had a history of high divorce rates.

"Frankly Alabama has if not the highest then one of the highest divorce rates in the country," the divorce Attorney told IBTimes UK. "We were the number one state in the union for the percentage of divorces, our rate for divorces is very high," he added.

According to the US census bureau Alabama has the 12th highest rate of divorce for men in the union and 14<sup>th for women. However in the past it was known for its high rate of divorce because of its relatively relaxed divorce laws.

Bradford said he had seen a pick-up in business in the aftermath of the Ashley Madison data leak, explaining roughly half a dozen individuals had made inquiries citing the Ashley Madison leak. "I think what it has done is it has provoked a lot of people to check up on their spouse to see if they are listed or if that email is listed," he said.

"If the person is listed, I think we would look to see and pursue some questions from them over the course of the divorce as to whether there had been instances of adultery and if it is found I think it can have an impact. If it leads to the downfall of the marriage then it can be very significant," Bradford added.

However, after 19 years in the business, the seasoned divorce attorney found it difficult to put his finger on exactly why Alabama locals, in the heart of America's Bible belt, should have a proclivity for infidelity.

"I think it has some cultural aspect, I am sure but it runs very counter to the southern states being very religious as a whole so it is hard to say why that happens but statistically the numbers bear it out," Bradford said.