The money was stolen from TANF funds, federal money entrusted to the state for needs of the poor. The Mississippi Department of Human Services has hired a new law firm to recover money that was misspent as part of the state's welfare fraud case. Davis attorney recently asked the court to extend an existing suppression order in his case to include White and Anderson, citing two recent articles Mississippi Today published about the case. Anna has received national recognition for her work, including the 2021 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the 2021 Collier Prize for State Government Accountability, the 2021 John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Award, the 2020 Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award and the February 2020 Sidney Award for reporting on Mississippis debtors prisons. Create a recurring donation today to join our mission. Many more millions are yet to be accounted for and investigators have not revealed the involvement of any other figures, such as state leaders, in the scheme. MDHS discusses largest embezzlement scheme in state history, upcoming policy changes, Mother arrested for leaving children home alone to go to gym, police say, Suspect accused of kidnapping, raping child in South Memphis pleads not guilty, Whitehaven mourns loss of high school band director, City of Memphis takes formal stance on 5-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates. We believe that an informed Mississippi is a better Mississippi. I just wanted you to be aware of this information in case this comes up.. John Davis was indicted along with several others in the largest embezzlement and fraud scheme in Mississippi history. We do not sell or share your information with anyone. MDHS released a statement about the arrests. Davis has pleaded not guilty. John Davis, several others face charges, arrested by state auditor's office. Davis is accused of creating fake invoices for DiBiase and for "creating a fraud scheme to take TANF funds to pay for personal investments in medical device companies.". Uncovering the scheme goes back further than you may realize. And they did start an internal audit at the beginning of 2019. The defendants used a variety of business entities and schemes to defraud the taxpayers, investigators said. The auditors office contradicted this notion, stating that the department has an obligation to ensure grant monies are expended properly. By the time these meetings occurred in April, July and August of 2020 former welfare department director John Davis, who was indicted last year for his critical role in the alleged scheme, had been retired for about a year. MDHS officials say former director John Davis created an environment of 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. When I checked to see who the caller was Mr. Davis was passing by and he stopped and he asked me to put my phone away and which I complied.". Emails obtained by Mississippi Today provide greater insight into the scope and type of foolery occurring within the federal grants. Representatives for the nonprofits have not returned several calls and emails over the last year. a proud member of the But fast forward to that afternoon session and my cell phone began to vibrate. Mugshots: Ex-welfare chief, wrestler, others charged in Mississippi fraud case. Among other things, it is charged that state money was diverted to pay for drug rehabilitation treatment for former wrestler DiBiase at an exclusive drug rehab clinic in Malibu, California. We will continue to follow this case and update you as new developments are made available. "We are aware of these types of incidents. State auditors did not say what precipitated the investigation and did not give a specific dollar amount for the money that they say was embezzled, only that it was in the millions. There is no division there when it comes to the criminal portion of the case, Wooten said. John Davis has been indicted in the largest embezzlement and fraud scheme in state history. Nancy New is a long-time political ally and financial supporter of Mississippis new Governor, Tate Reeves. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. They then converted funds to their personal use and concealed the conversion through various fund transfers, fraudulent documents, at least one forged signature and deceptive accounting measures, investigators said. The purported messages also show a request from Favre asking members of the group to help to pay a $1 million debt Favre owed to the University of Southern Mississippi for the volleyball court he promised the school. She explained that they were absolutely doing nothing in either center.. Skip to content. Special agents from the office of State Auditor Shad White have arrested John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and five others in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme. By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with Mississippi Today. Former DHS director, wrestler arrested in 'largest public embezzlement As a nonprofit, your support is what powers our work. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. He attended public schools there and then obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi.
mdhs embezzlement scheme
