It is also charged that DiBiase was paid state money for drug education work that he did not perform. The complexity of the cover-up was as such that it wouldve been highly unlikely that anybody wouldve uncovered it, except by being able to find it from within, Blanton said. Mugshots: Ex-welfare chief, wrestler, others charged in Mississippi fraud case. Criminal Investigation Press Releases for April 2023 Great Jones Cookware Review: Is It Worth Buying? Phil Bryant in January 2016. Uncovering the scheme goes back further than you may realize. DHS made a post on Facebook Wednesday saying it "self-reportedthe information" that led to the investigation. Is there more to be revealed about the diversion of tax money to private schools? There was a reception area, a 10 x 10 room with two tables and 6 chairs and another office. On a separate visit, she said, they found no employee present. Start a recurring donation of any amount to further this work and help hold public officials and those in power accountable. For example, the people in charge of spending welfare dollars paid $5 million to help University of Southern Mississippi build a new volleyball stadium, paid retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre $1.1 million for a promotional gig, bought a horse ranch for former high school running back Marcus Dupree, paid over $3 million to Brett DiBiases brother Ted DiBiase Jr., also a retired WWE wrestler, to conduct professional development, hired officials friends and family members and paid them six-figure salaries, and paid rents on properties they owned that sat empty. When it comes to finding the misspending detailed in the indictments, this was the atmosphere at the agency at the time. District Attorney John Weddle's office will prosecute the case. MDHS officials say former director John Davis created an environment of fear and intimidation, John Davis is indicted in an embezzlement scheme involving millions of dollars, Beloved Mississippi school bus driver killed during crash with 18-wheeler, Eleven players with Mississippi ties selected in 2023 NFL Draft, Truck possibly connected to Hinds County jail escape found in Newton County, Paraplegic fisherman speaks to Beulah Baptist Church, Belhaven football puts a smile on the face of little girl, City of Byram awarded thousands of state dollars for infrastructure projects, 58-year-old man shoots brother after argument over a dog in Hazlehurst, Request a First Alert Weather School Visit, Advertising Non-Discrimination Certification. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. Purported text messages obtained by Mississippi Today show that Favre and Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham offered the governor and nonprofit director shares of Prevacus and offered to buy the head of MDHS a Ford F-150 Raptor truck in return for their help. Ex-Mississippi DHS head arrested in embezzlement scheme, auditor says In a statement, the Department of Human Services said it had self-reported the information that initiated this investigation to the governors office in June 2019. Fugees Rapper Pras Michel Found Guilty in Illegal Foreign Influence Scheme To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). He attended a professional development conference led by Davis outside the department and he says the encounter left him confused and embarrassed. Davis is indicted along with Nancy New, her son Zach New, Anne McGrew, Latimer Smith and Brett DiBiase. Auditor Shad White said his office is still attempting to determine the total amount of money involved, but the "sprawling conspiracy" already exceeds any embezzlement scheme in recent years. 2023 www.clarionledger.com. You can only publish select stories individually not as a collection. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. MDHS released a statement about the arrests. Johnson said, "Mr. Davis approached me and asked me did I not, did I not want to be there. There really hadnt been the internal auditing capability, the program integrity ability before that we had at that point that was created, explained DHS Chief Communications Officer Danny Blanton. He had the latitude to unilaterally disperse funds as he felt necessary or wanted to, Blanton confirmed. MDHS sits down to discuss the embezzlement case for the first time since the news broke a week ago. New sent a similar email to former Department of Human Services Director Christopher Freeze, who took over for Davis a few months after Davis retired in 2019. Anna Wolfe, a native of Tacoma, Wa., is an investigative reporter writing about poverty and economic justice. And at that point we did, Blanton said. Ricky Jones, who has served as president of 100 Black Men of Jackson since March, said his organization just learned about the investigation last week when DHS notified them they would not be receiving a welfare grant this year. The former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services and several others have been arrested in what the state auditor said is the largest public embezzlement case in state history.Special agents from the office of State Auditor Shad White have arrested John Davis, who retired after 28 years with DHS on July 31, 2019. Persons arrested by the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The total amount of money lost to these schemes has not yet been determined, but the loss already exceeds any embezzlement . Zach New, Nancy's son, is the assistant executive director of the Mississippi Community Education Center and is also accused ofusing TANF funds for personal use as well as for investing in private medical device companies. "I now have the opportunity to focus on my family at home and pursue a position outside of state government," Davis wrote in a statement announcing his resignation. In 2020, officials said the loss exceeds any embezzlement scheme in the records of the Auditors office., You stuck your neck out for me: Brett Favre used fame and favors to pull welfare dollars (Mississippi Today), Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre (Mississippi Today), 8 revelations from Part 1 of The Backchannel investigation (Mississippi Today), This is a BETA experience. He had the latitude to unilaterally disperse funds as he felt necessary or wanted to, Blanton confirmed. Between 2016 and 2018, the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center doled out $5 millionallegedly at Favres requestto the University of Southern Mississippi, where Favre attended and where his daughter also attended and played volleyball, to pay for a new volleyball court, according to Mississippi Today; the nonprofit also paid him $1.1 million to promote a program called Families First. "MDHS self-reported the information that initiated this investigation to former Gov. If youre not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and include our website, You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor. She explained that they were absolutely doing nothing in either center.. Gov. "He asked me, he said do you know who I am? Also arrested were Brett DiBiase, a former professional wrestler; Nancy New, owner and director of the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC) and New Learning, Inc.; News son, Zach New, assistant director of MCEC; Anne McGrew, identified as an accountant for MCEC, and Gregory Latimer Smith, a former employee of MDHS. (WLBT) The funds that were illegally obtained in this case were intended to help the poorest among us, Mr. White said in a statement Wednesday. MDHS is concerned about the authenticity of MCEC documents due to submission of numerous versions of the same request in a monitoring visit, Anderson wrote to the auditors office in March in response to the latest report. Mr. Michel took orders, and millions of dollars, from a Malaysian financier who sought to gain political influence in the U.S., prosecutors said. Since then, the subgrantee process has changed and the state plan for TANF reflects those changes. Follow him on Twitter @gbolognaCL. An eight-month investigation revealed that the accused conspired to illegally obtain millions in public funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program administered by DHS, White said. Shortly after last years arrests in the largest reported public embezzlement scheme in state history, a whistleblower disclosed several previously unreported fraud allegations to the welfare department regarding one of its federal grant recipients. Mississippi's former welfare director, four colleagues and a former pro wrestler have been charged with carrying out a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme to siphon public money from needy. Brett DiBiase has pleaded guilty for his role in an embezzlement scheme that investigators said was the largest in state history.The former pro wrestler was arrested in July 2019 along with several others, including former Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis.DiBiase entered a guilty plea Thursday in Hinds County Circuit Court to making fraudulent statements for the . She also received first place in the regional Green Eyeshade Awards in 2021 for Public Service in Online Journalism and 2020 for Business Reporting, and the local Bill Minor Prize for Investigative Journalism in 2019 and 2018 for reporting on unfair medical billing practices and hunger in the Mississippi Delta. The announcement came from the office of Mississippi State Auditor, Shadrach Tucker White. Davis and Smith are accused of fraudulently manufacturing documents to benefit DiBiase using TANF money, White said. The former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services and several others have been arrested in what the state auditor said is the largest public embezzlement case in state history. The former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services has been arrested as part of a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme that among other things paid for a former . We work to provide free, accessible news for everyone to create a more informed Mississippi and hold public officials accountable. April 14 (UPI) -- A former worker at the Art Institute in Chicago has pleaded guilty to carrying out a $2 million embezzlement scheme. As a reminder, the scheme includes more than $4.15 million dollars in embezzled government money. Mississippi welfare scheme: Former state official pleads guilty in (T)heir immediate supervisor called a meeting with the staff in Myersville and told them that they had to document names of clients and activities performed in that center. Mississippi welfare embezzlement scandal: What we know so far. Jones said as a result of the lost funding, 100 Black Men had to cancel some upcoming afterschool and ACT prep programs, but that they would continue other services, such as administering vaccines and a student field trip to Alabama.
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