The spotlight on White has grown more intense in the wake of Mississippi Todays The Backchannel investigation, which showed Bryant using private texts to influence his welfare director and try to broker a deal with a pharmaceutical startup that enticed him with stock in the company. At this time, MDHS has no plans to change our engagement with Mr. Piggot in assisting with the continued investigation of the misuse of TANF funds. Legislative Update Updated: Jul 27, 2021 / 01:43 PM CDT. The council did not immediately approve a new contract with the company and residents were left without pickups for approximately two weeks. Auditors issued additional demands to vendors who received part of the $77 million in welfare spending but did not completely fulfill the terms of their contracts: Austin Smith: $378,791 Brett Dibiase: $225,950 Favre Enterprises, along with Brett Favre and Robert Culumber: $828,000 Former Auditor Stacey Pickering, whom Bryant replaced with White, declined comment. The job title. This is one of the larger demands weve issued in my time in office. That is what actually led to the meeting, the mayor said. Neither person is named in the report because the investigation is ongoing. Originally from Florence, Mississippi, Pender is a journalism graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi and has received numerous awards throughout his career for reporting, columns and freedom of information efforts. Got a story tip? But in an October 2021 interview with Mississippi Today before the judge strengthened thegag order in the case to further restrict White the auditor said he had not seen instances of Bryant directing his welfare chief to spend federal money on specific programs. 0:00. It is ultimately going to be the discretion of the feds to determine who is culpable in this case.. On Tuesday, the council voted down the claims docket after an item to pay approximately $45,000 in councils attorneys fees was pulled from it at the behest of the City Attorneys Office. Ole Miss shows they have some fight left in them. At least two Mississippi Medicaid recipients are making six figures and living in million-dollar homes, according to State Auditor Shad White, and he wants legislators to strengthen Medicaid investigators powers as a result. 2023 www.clarionledger.com. The state auditor and Mississippi attorney general are investigating whether Centene Corp., as a provider of Medicaid drug services, failed to disclose discounts on pharmacy services . k"=z@T Mississippi State Auditor Shad White has referred a case to the state's attorney general involving NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre and nine others who received millions in welfare dollars that should have gone to help the state's poorest. State Auditor Shad White has named Larry Ware as the new Director of Investigations. Foote was one of three members that voted down the claims docket out of protest to the item being removed. Mills voluntarily reduced his hours by so much on our first bill that his effective rate was $183 per hour, and the city is aware of that discount we gave to the city, Scanlon said. <>
He later added, "when you read this one-hundred-plus page audit, you will see that, if there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it. The council did not immediately approve a new contract with the company and residents were left without pickups for approximately two weeks. Jv|,w\7"|L\M$E9VzT);2op)7=mi+uUv(
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Today State Auditor Shad White announced Jonathan Smith, a former employee of Jackson County, has been convicted of two counts of embezzlement. Founded in 2016 as the states first nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom, Mississippi Todays roots in Capitol coverage have grown to encompass a myriad of beats beyond politics and policy, including education, public health, justice, environment, equity, and, yes, sports. Mississippi State Auditor Shad White alleged that money set aside from the federal government for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs were misappropriated under the leadership of John Davis, then-head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, according to the letter. AccelerateMS. not the other way around.. <>
Faulk has also been issued a demand letter totaling $22,031.26. by Geoff Pender and Anna Wolfe, Mississippi Today May 12, 2022, This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
. The NAACP called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate years of allegations of widespread welfare fraud and misspending in Mississippi totaling over $94 million, according to a letter obtained exclusively by ABC News. More than two years later, federal authorities have not brought any charges related to the welfare scandal. Published in April 2022, the explosive investigation exposed corruption in Mississippi's dysfunctional welfare system, which deprived the poorest US state of millions of federal dollars that was intended to address widespread poverty. endobj
April 25, 2023 at 9:05 a.m. EDT. The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Angel McIlraths office in the courtroom of Judge Kathy King Jackson. The agency notified the city on April 5, urging leaders to reimplement residential collections, saying the temporary drop-off sites were not adequate to handle the citys needs. Accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen released a 175-page independent audit looking at fraud claims between Jan. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2019. Several individuals in the case have accepted plea deals including former professional wrestler Brett DiBiase, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to a single count of making fraudulent statements for the purpose of defrauding the government. However, one attorney that was part of the same firm was billing the city at a rate of $375 an hour, he said. Indictment. White did face questions about Bryant, given that the former governors director of human services and close friends of Bryant were among those arrested and indicted, and the malfeasance appeared to involve programs or companies Bryant had championed. Her background in political science helps her cut through the noise to find and explain the truth. Federal criminal investigations are notoriously slow, but also notoriously thorough. No further arrests have been made since February of 2020 . White's office helped lead the investigation into Mississippi's $77 million welfare fraud scandal, . The new law increases the statute of limitations on bribery from three years to five years. Is there a way to get the required matching funds? Then-Southern District U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst in early 2020 issued a release noting, We in the United States Attorneys Office and the FBI only learned from media reports about the indictments and arrests, at the same time the general public did., While we commend the reported actions, neither the FBI nor the United States Attorneys Office was contacted by the State Auditor or the Hinds County District Attorney about this investigation, although millions of federal dollars are alleged to have been stolen.. However, state Medicaid recipients are not the only Mississippians impacted by PBMs. - SB 2338 of 2022 which requires the Department of Human Services Fraud Investigations Unit to report suspected crimes to . March 23, 2023 JACKSON, Miss. The County Audit Section recovered disallowed expenditures totaling $34,124.47, White further explained. Six people have been indicted on state charges, including Davis. State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement after Brett DiBiase entered a guilty plea in federal court: Continue Reading, JACKSON, Miss. But now they initiate the action to look at some invoices with all the other things that could have popped up on their radar?, Did they all of a sudden call the city up and say, Hey, weve been looking at your invoices, and we want to make sure that you guys are doing everything OK? Hartley said. The state began investigating Centene in 2019 after growing suspicion that Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Centene's pharmacy benefit management subsidiary, was inflating its bills. All rights reserved. The NAACP called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate years of allegations of widespread welfare fraud and misspending in Mississippi totaling over $94 million, according to a letter obtained exclusively by ABC News. While at Millsaps, Summerhays received a Legislative Fellowship with the Womens Foundation of Mississippi where she worked with an active member of the Mississippi Legislature for the length of session. All rights reserved. DHS hired a firm to conduct a forensic audit to detail how millions of dollars meant to help the poor in Mississippi were misused under former Executive Director John Davis. They show the two men telling Bryant the company had received public funds, and that the governor intended to make his own business deal with Prevacus after he left office. xY]o6}7pbf8i3kx`^xsn;)L}/zE'tAHdqvAv5\b:9:X4IqGN;Z7nTWz3\TFSt7"hUZ2m+(GqrI((9}*JA4p&HAittQ:YIX}0|("8viY0m|k@d(Fs
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Cj x@ dPm RAB a The rule that I lived by was if there is any question whatsoever, dont do it, said Pete Johnson, who served as state auditor from 1988-1992, and ran unsuccessfully for governor, losing to Kirk Fordice in the Republican primary in 1991. Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories. ( WJTV) - On Monday, State Auditor Shad White announced Larry Ware has been named the new Director of Investigations at the Mississippi . <>
The company reported over $257 billion in revenue last year. Favre has not been charged and has since started repaying the funds, according to the AP. JACKSON, Miss. &A(@ `$&UV/?4b ( 4)c%@/ P$Y$H`=V```````8@Ii White at the time said that his office moved swiftly and without notifying or involving federal authorities so as to halt the scheme before any more money was misspent or stolen. I dont vote on claims for several reasons, he said. White as auditor has burnished a reputation as a hard-charging defender of state tax dollars, and was credited with unmasking a massive scheme in the 2019 welfare scandal.
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