Did state welfare money pay for Southern Miss volleyball courts? What is Families First? How did the Dibiases hook up with Families First? Such questions were asked recently as the media continues to unravel the DHS embezzlement scandal.
The Clarion-Ledger reported on Valentine's Day that the state of Mississippi gave $2.1 million to Ted Dibiase's charity, Heart of David Ministries. Mr. Dibiase made his fame and fortune as "The Million-Dollar Man" on the pro wrestling scene in the 1990's. The state newspaper reported:
Heart of David Ministries had relatively meager funds until DiBiase's son was hired as deputy administrator at the Mississippi Department of Human Services in early 2017. Both DiBiase's son Brett and the director who hired him were indicted last week as part of a massive alleged embezzlement scheme that also involved welfare money.Heart of David Ministries — which received as much as $900,000 one year from the Mississippi Department of Human Services — describes its central mission in nonprofit filings as "religious education & training." It reported spending its 2017 grant money on "general church speaking engagements, religious conferences, school assemblies, and wrestling events." Rest of article.
Federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds were allegedly funneled to the charity through the Mississippi Community Education Center. MCEC and Heart of David Ministries are no longer receiving TANF funds.
The Clarion-Ledger followed up with a deep dive into Families First*, a non-profit organization affiliated with the News and MCEC:
A so-called nonprofit praised by politicians for providing social services across Mississippi was little more than ad campaign for an organization now at the center of a massive alleged embezzlement scheme.
Families First did not register with the IRS as a non-profit organization. The website does not work. The newspaper said it was merely a shell for MCEC. The state gave MCEC more than $65 million since 2014. MCEC denied it operated Families First but the reporter found evidence that gave lie to that claim. Rest of the weeds.
Not to be outdone, Anna Wolfe performed some stellar reporting in a story that brings back memories of her days covering the Yarber Administration at the Clarion-Ledger. She reported at Mississippi Today yesterday:
Not to be outdone, Anna Wolfe performed some stellar reporting in a story that brings back memories of her days covering the Yarber Administration at the Clarion-Ledger. She reported at Mississippi Today yesterday:
The Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit that receives a majority of its budget from taxpayer dollars intended to help people out of poverty, provided most of the funding for the volleyball center through an upfront five-year sublease agreement with the University’s athletic foundation. The nonprofit owner, Nancy New, sat on the athletic foundation’s board. The university modified plans to the facility, called the Wellness Center, so that it would include office space for the organization....Hmmm.... maybe the funds were going to be used to provide Midnight Volleyball to at-risk girls. Obviously a worthy endeavor.
Under the 2017 lease agreement, obtained by Mississippi Today, the Mississippi Community Education Center rented all university athletic facilities “for various activities that benefit the area’s underserved population,” but one former employee said that never happened and by Thursday, after over a week of inquiry, the university had still not explained what the nonprofit accomplished on campus.....
The organization’s expansion began shortly after John Davis, a longtime Mississippi Department of Human Services official, became the agency’s director in 2016. That year, expenditure reports show, the department began issuing multi-million dollar lump sum payments to the Mississippi Community Education Center, the nonprofit founded by politically connected private education contractor Nancy New.
However, Davis did not make New report how her organization spent the money — now more than $65 million since 2016, according to a review of state agency expenditure reports... Rest of article.
There is not much taking place on the criminal side right now. The accused are preparing their defenses while the state and federal investigations continue.
Kingfish note: Scuttlebutt is Ms. New brought in forensic accountants and went over the books for two weeks. A counterattack is expected. It is also reputed Ms. New and Deborah Bryant are close friends. In fact, there is a strong USM connection among some of the players in this scandal.
*Disclosure: Families First advertised on this website as it did at other media outlets.
32 comments:
I am active in my church inner-city ministry. We have used Family First services for workshops, assistance in writing resumes, conducting job interview training, and providing suitable clothes for interviews. Family counseling and referrals to educational, health and other agencies/organizations was provided. I know nothing of their funding and administration. But the services provided to those we work with will be missed.
Wolfe's linked MT reporting is half-drone and half-story. MT is begging for readers to conclude that her reporting exposed the embezzlement and will happily not disabuse the public of the error should that conclusion be reached.
No wonder I haven't heard any "Families First" ads on Supertalk lately.
Southern Miss To The Top?
All this winning is beginning to wear on me.
Ms. New and her crew are going to be tried in Hinds County before a largely black jury. They are going to do serious time, Shad knew what he was doing. Anyone else would have given it to the AG or the DA in Madison-Rankin.
This entire situation makes no sense. Old Gov claims to be the whistleblower, and only comes out after leaving office? So, his Admin allowed millions in TANF funds to allegedly be misspent or misused for months and months? The Auditor comes out and hammers this woman and her group, with apparently no Fed involvement and then states his office doesn't have the manpower or resources to continue the investigation? Reps from MDHS claim to have no clue what Families First is, although a simple internet queery puts their name all over it....everyone knows Families First was MDHS's baby. And where is the new MDHS Interim ED, Jacob Black? He was John Davis' right hand man for quite a while and apparently signed off on many of the projects run by all of the MDHS subgrantees, not just MCEC. Surely MDHS legal counsel was on top of such a large release of federal funds, correct? There's a hell of lot more to this story that what we're being told.
When I read this story in the C-Ledger, the first things that came to mind were these:
This woman is an alumnae of Southern Miss and serves on the board that drums up funds for this sort of thing.
Phil Bryant and his wife were head cheerleaders for this woman and her 'giving heart' programs.
Phil Bryant and his wife are graduates of Southern Miss.
Wolfe's article was twelve times as long as it needed to be. She is obviously infatuated with her own stuff. You do not learn that in any college classroom. You also don't learn to write eighty, two-sentence paragraphs in journalism class.
5:21 x 2. I'm worn out from all the winning over the last three years.
Follow the money.
And where did the former Governor who built the Families First empire and his chief of staff attend college?????
Hey you two....what does winning have to do with a scam? There are good and bad on both sides. Politics doesn’t have anything to do with any of this. I imagine when they were cooking up this scheme they weren’t asking each other for their voter registration nor were they thinking about anything other than lining their own pockets. All I can say is JYD is up there shaking his head at the DiBiase family.
Phil will be challenging you to a Duel at Dawn for bringing this up Mr. Fish.
southern miss should give that money back in the form of a 4million dollar scholarship fund for disadvantage hattiesburg youth. isn’t going to happen...or anything for that matter.
What about the Paul Lacoste Sports $1m+ contract, helping low income folks w fitness programs? Did it? Are we sure?
Has Shad ever tried a case?
Need to go back to when all the money was being disbursed and indict , all program administrators, deputy administrators, and directors involved in this mess.
It’s a freeking shame that all this money was allocated with no checks, balances and fiscal accountability!
Shame, Shame and Shame!
Money in the wind!
As a USM alum and third generation graduate I am appalled that this has taken place. We have always been behind on the funding from the legislature and therefore have been looking for additional funding as far back as the 1950s that I can remember. In recent years transparency and social media has forced the pro Ole Miss legislators to be more honest in funding there fore giving an appearance of leveling the playing field somewhat - however with the explosion of the SEC and the SEC Network Ole Miss and State have received enormous amounts of money. They are not in need. Nonetheless this recent scandal of fraud with DHS grant money and now the fact that it is tied to USM lies solely at the hands of Dr. Rodney Bennett, former AD John Gilbert and current Associate AD Jeff Mitchell, who is an Attorney. Bennett and Mitchell have to go and ECU can do with Gilbert what they want. All three and there staffs are negligent in turning their face away from improper giving or negligent of not carrying out due diligence. The IHL College Board hands are dirty too. They want to distance themselves by saying they have no oversight because of the connection with the Athletics Foundation. Technically yes but that is spin. So in the last six months the College Board cut a back room deal to force a Chancelor at Ole Miss while wasting our money In the process. They have had to fire the JSU president who they not only hired at JSU but at MVSU and he is a dope smoking and whore chasing excuse of a man. Now this at USM. We need to as a state abolish the IHL system and each school have its own board of trustees much like most other states. If this were In place there is no guarantee of perfect but I can assure you that the three previous incidents I mentioned would not have happened. Abolish the IHL.
8:49 am, What are you smoking? This has EVERYTHING to do with politics, though not necessarily partisan politics.
-8:47 pm
10:40 - Did Paul LaCoste use state or federal funds?
Sounds to me like MDHS is trying its best to distance itself from a situation it knows it is directly responsible for. They’ll have to be accountable to the Feds for the use of TANF funds. Those in charge and legal counsel for the surely agency know they’re responsible to some degree. The bumbling MDHS idiot Blanton who keeps speaking for MDHS needs to be muzzled.
Southern Miss To The Top!!!
Seems like there has to be more to this story.....
"Seems like there has to be more to this story..February 29, 2020 at 10:38 PM"
How much more do you need? Connect the dots.
Families First
Mrs. New
Her access to federal and state funds
Her alumnae status
Her relationship with Phil Bryant
His Alumni status
Her position on the Southern board
It was totally her access to a large piggy bank that she viewed as her personal slush fund to be spent at will. Nothing more to see here.
Looks like this non-profit also providing funding to MSU, Alcorn and Jackson State.
MDHS provided the funds. MDHS approved the expenditure of the funds, to include the Southern Miss project. MDHS now claims to have no knowledge of said funds. These non-profits didn’t decide where to spend this money on their own. Where was the oversight and guidance?
MDHS is in full CYA mode.
This thing doesn't begin or end with Nancy New. Nobody is coming out and saying it, but only one person in the state has the power to direct the flow of funds like that.
Since we are in Mississippi and they are White, they will be fined and serve no time. With the state pursuing the case, you really think this lot will go to Parchmen or Greene County? Somehow, I don't see Mrs. New spending one day at CMCF. They took food from the mouths of poor White and Brown Mississippians. No harm done, right? Meanwhile, the former commissioner of corrections is rotting away in federal prison for taking bribes that don't equal a 5th of what these folks have stolen. There is a special place in Hell for some of these "good, Christian leaders" from our great state. We will never progress because we continue to sow rotten seeds...even in 2020.
It appears that 1:41 is outraged over these white crooks getting off the hook with nothing more than slaps on the wrist. I would share in that outrage, except that it hasn't happened. And yes, I do expect them to serve time in prison, if they either plead guilty or are found guilty at trial.
On the bright side, it appears that at least some of the money made it back into public institutions. Albeit not particularly useful programs, but public. I can only imagine how much had to fall into private pockets to get that volleyball facility.
@Volleyball for the Homeless- You nailed it!!! It all adds up!
Didn't the Ole Miss folks have to disgorge all the Lamar Smith donations? Why not USM?
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