Will Nancy New bring down a former Governor or is she merely a convict trying to cast blame on anyone and everyone? New and her son Zach defrauded the government of millions of dollars in TANF funds while bribing public officials. Earlier post on guilty plea.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch sued to recover funds in the DHS scandal from Nancy New, former DHS Director John Davis, and 36 other defendants in May. Some of the high-profile defendants include: Ted "The Million Dollar Man" Dibiase, Sr., Ted "No Dollar" Dibiase, Jr., Brett Dibiase, Nicholas "Uncle Hushpuppy" Cronin Coughlin, Paul Lacoste, Brett Favre, and Marcus Dupree. Earlier post on lawsuit.
The state fired its shot with the clawback lawsuit in May New took her own shot Monday in her answer to the lawsuit. She claimed she spent all monies at the behest of Director Davis. Such was to be expected as she still awaits sentencing but page 21 rocked the Mississippi media this week:
Governor Phil Bryant directed Defendant to provide funds to Brett Favre, and Defendant caused MCEC to contract with Favre Enterprises, Inc. in the amount of $1,100,000 in consideration for Favre speaking at events, keynote speaking, radio and promotional events, and business partner development. Favre performed services pursuant to this agreement, and payment for said services is a Permissible TANF Expenditure.
She cast further blame on the Governor a few pages later (p.26):
Defendant reasonably relied on then-Governor Phil Bryant, acting within his broad statutory authority as chief executive of the State, including authority over MDHS and TANF, and his extensive knowledge of Permissible TANF Expenditures from 12 years as State Auditor, four years as Lieutenant Governor, and a number of years as Governor leading up to and including the relevant time period.
New doesn't provide any evidence to support her claims but such is to be expected at this stage of the proceedings if any indeed exists. She said other transactions were made at the behest of Director Davis and other DHS officials:
* Pay Rise in Malibu $160,000 for Brett Dibiase's drug treatment.
* Hire NCC Ventures for $50,000 for workforce development services. NCC is owned by Uncle Hushpuppy, Nick Coughlin.
* Invest TANF funds in amounts of $500,000, $250,000, and $400,000 in Prevacus in 2019. The answer states (p.19):
MDHS, acting through John Davis and the MDHS Executives, directed Defendant to provide $5 million on behalf of the State of Mississippi to Prevacus, Inc. during a meeting with Jake Vanlandingham at Brett Favre’s home.* DHS told New's MCEC to contract with Paul LaCoste's Victory Sports Foundation to provide boot camps, exercise programs,a nd other services for $1.2 million.
* Hire Austin Smith and his company Priceless Ventures for $130,000 for IT services.
* Contract with Soul City Hospitality to lease space at the Old Mississippi Farmer's Market.
* Pay $371,000 to the MD Foundation (Marcus Dupree) in 2018 to provide services such as parenting classes, teen pregnancy prevention programs, and child abuse/neglect programs.
* Hired Magnolia Strategies, owned by Jess New, Esq., at $100,000 per year for legal services for MCEC at the direction of DHS. Jess is the son of Nancy New.
Congressman Bennie Thompson asked the Justice Department to investigate Governor Bryant's possible role in the DHS scandal.
The case is assigned to Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson. Attorney Thomas Bufkin represents Nancy New.
Kingfish note: Nice allegations but right now, they are allegations and Nancy New is a convict. Evidence supporting allegations of this nature are rarely presented in an answer so speculation will run wild until motions and responses flood the docket. A Devil's Advocate would probably say lurid allegations were made in a lawsuit against former Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber however the allegations were just that, allegations as Kim Bracey never provided any texts, emails, letters, videos, or witnesses. However, the News are not dumb and know they will have to produce something to back up their claims.
Stay tuned. This is going to be interesting.
44 comments:
I can't help but wonder what the lesser known defendants got out of this scam. Surely they will roll on the main players.
Feel is shaking in his boot. Uncle Bennie and the dem controlled DOJ is after his ass. Is beyond Mississippi at this point.
Steel cage match for this!
I know Phil should have known better but I just don’t see any of these allegations sticking ! I think it is self preservation on Nancy’s part . Definitely ready to sit back and enjoy.
And then there’s the mater of Bryant’s text messages, which I think are more than “don’t look good.”
If one was close enough to loan her clothes or buy new ones for phil’s wife, then you were definitely operating close to the private quarters of the governors mansion!
Nancy’s pled. There’s clearly an ongoing Federal investigation, and probably has been for a while. Phil is screwed. Several others most likely too.
It’s never made sense that throughout this entire ordeal, only two federal indictments have come down. I think more are on the way. Bryant, John Davis and who knows who else.
Phil’s texts are enough to show his involvement. If Anna Wolfe got them, why didn’t Shad? I personally hope Nancy nukes everyone involved.
Favre has flipped on Phil. The Florida doctor too. Phil’s done.
The Smiths are the brother-in-law and nephew of John Davis.
Phil has made some mistakes for sure. I’m not sure he has done anything criminal though that I’ve seen. But time will tell. Maybe he has.
You got everything correct except “the news are not dumb”. They are extremely dumb!
Bennie "Jan. 6" Thompson is on a crusade to take down Republicans, and that include Deputy Feel. But Bennie should know that paybacks are a bitch, and the tide will change in the upcoming midterms.
11:09pm Bryant is guilty as hell, and a whole bunch of others as well for willful ignorance, or direct complicity.
11:09, my feelings exactly. But then I remember what they did to Bernie. Never convicted him of actually doing anything. He was sent to jail because “he should have known”.
Yet KF never posts his follow up article about Shad ignoring facts concerning Phil’s involvement. Keep toting the water, KF.
Boy if Feel & Carolyn Bryant both get arrested we won’t be referred to as the Land Mass anymore by the rest of the country.
It's purely coincidental that so much money made its way to The University of Southern Mississippi for a totally unrelated (and illegal) purpose...while the place is the alma mater of the former governor, his wife (closely tied back than to Miz New), and Brett Favre.
Where's the (then) president of that school? He gone.
Ironically, Hattiesburg is also home to a famous mental facility that can cleanse the soul (Tiger Woods), straighten the path of the misguided and polish up the morals of professional and high-profile people. Anybody wanta make a referral from among the character actors in this play?
Imagine a Hinds County Circuit Court Jurdge presiding over this circus. Of all the TV-Judge programs on the air today, most of them come to mind.
11:09 - Do you not recall how closely joined at the hip both Bryants were with this woman for at least three years?
11:09 - Do you not remember how closely joined at the hip both Bryants were with this woman for at least three years?
The woman had a cookie jar of federal/state money and Phil knew it. He's no fool and he's no fool's tool. As with his plan to receive cash and other consideration through Favre (the day after his (Bryant's) retirement), he knew damned well how to profit from this scheme and stay out of reach of the radar.
21st defense ??!!!
And claiming she was “directed” to do something illegal is an admission of her own guilt.
“Judge, I was directed by the President to rob that bank…..”
misery loves company.........nancy and her punk son are miserable and the want company....imagine that
“Uncle Hushpuppy”? Really? If stupidity was a crime Phil would get life without parole.
Everyone set back and relax. Let the news media decide this. They know what is best for us peons. If we get too interested we may make a lot of mistakes and do something the media does not want us to do.
Just let the media do what they do best. Make up stories and force them down our throats.
Remind me to check in Monday morning when the JJ post about Deppity Pheel and his dress sharing wife having their communications with the USM Athletic Foundation subpoenaed by the TANF clawback lawsuit lawyers working for the State of Mississippi goes up.
9:00 am is correct to an extent but, Thompson’s base will vote him right back in even knowing his net worth is more ($5 million) than any of those people will ever see in their lifetimes even if they combined many together. Bennie is the “color of the day” for the Current United States and it’s Marxist members who want to take control of our lives.
Thanks for keeping this in your spotlight.
Anna Wolfe has done some great reporting and it deserves "re-tweeting."
Deborah Bryant's role in this can't be understated. Her actions (she was not a state official and is not a beneficiary of the malfeasance) were not criminal. Just plain stupid. Her friendship and dress exchanges with Nancy New paint part of the picture. And, no, I don't think she should go to jail. She was not the Governor.
Phil picked Davis. Davis worked for Phil. Phil benefited from Prevacus.
Let the investigations continue.
Phil couldn’t even resist steering a palliative care facility to his buddies. The list is too long to be a coincidence of ignorance.
Nancy is guilty but so are the Experienced authorities and leaders that allowed her to steal the money. It’s terrible that our so called conservative state that is pro life steals from the actual program that helps poor women with unintended pregnancies Not be dependent on Medicaid and try to support their families by working. MILLIONS are takened from the TANF while they carry on with their comfortable lives. Our state should be ashamed. All we can do is have our senators pass a bill for the unborn that already has laws in place to pay up to 12 months back pay child support. The TANF was actually a good program/assistance if it wasn’t robbed!
So Bennie is worth 5 million, trump is worth 6.5 million, what’s that got to do with bryant being a crook? The state gave his family a free pass years ago and we’re gonna do it again if not for some good aggressive investigative reporting
No way in hell that John Davis could imagine doing anything wrong without the Governor’s approval! I’ve said this over and over in my comments on this subject. John is loyal, but I don’t think he will take the rap!
So sad what a person would do for that high four, including the chain of command ( many channels these proposals went thru) of MDHS that knew this shit was WRONG!
No State employee would do this shigity without approval from the TOP(Governor).
Now they could maybe got away with a few thousand, but they ass got real greedy and bold with misappropriation of millions!
John I’m telling you again, don’t take that rap! You ain’t built for prison!
5:32, John Davis is not a likeable man in his own right. He wasn’t/isn’t loyal to the governor or the News because his goal was a government agency retirement with a cushy job on the outside. He’s incredibly guilty, along with the rest. He used funds with indiscretion and told the various members in the “chain of command” that discretionary meant it could be used however he chose. And, plenty of state employees will do this sort of thing without the governor’s approval. There is little to no oversight in those roles and it’s easy to bully people out of their jobs if they call another person out on poor ethics. As an individual who worked under JD and bared the punishment of speaking up, I hope he gets the full extent of what his cell mate has planned for him.
Funny how some of you rant and rave against the federal gov and bennie thompson because they want to "take control of our lives" (11:54) in the comment section of an article about rampant tea party republican corruption. Phil and Co literally stole your money, your tax dollar. Same party and their supreme court nominees tell you what you can do with your body. WTF kind of kool aid are you drinking!?!?!
My popcorn is ready!
8:44PM
The government steals my money every pay check.
MDHS has many layers of policy and procedures to protect incidents as this welfare fraud. I’m sure many eyes saw this fraud and failed to repot it. Many employees saw this as criminal but no safe haven for the employees it they reported this crime. They would have been all fired from jobs they’ve had for many years.
Mississippi needs a whistleblower law that provides monetary relief for employees that rat on employers/agencies that do wrong! I know this won’t happen because WHY RUN for PUBLIC OFFICE if you Can’t STEAL and HELP your friends!
I still don’t understand how Shad White’s cover up for Phil Bryant hasn’t been investigated nor has Christi Webb’s role with Families First in North Mississippi! Sorry Kingfish, but it looks to me like you’re all about blaming the wrong people while staying silent when it’s about Phil Bryant and Shad white.
Each indictment that the News pled guilty to contained the words “at the direction of John Davis and others” ………..
John Davis (and others) were bribing NN to do what they said or they would withhold funding. Plain and simple.
Davis is a direct report of Phil Billy and was a fire at will employee of Phil. That control of an individual and dictation of where funds go and when they are spent is directly tied to Phil. There are state statutes that say as much. Prosecutors are going to make the connection to Phil Billy and Davis and the funds and the fact that Phil Billy was not only Guv but also had been state auditor, and had vast insight into how to make these things happen. Can't wait to see Phil Billy and Deb take the stand and deal with the questions coming their way. Phil destroyed a state that was moving forward!!! The most incompetent Guv since Cliff Finch........ Not one thing was better when he left, not one!
Well ole Kingfish sounds like he's part of PhilBilly's defense team. He says we shouldn't believe Naughty Nancy because she's "a convict". Naughty Nancy has plead guilty to crimes (bribing public officials, fraud against the government, wire fraud and racketeering), but she has not yet been convicted. A guilty plea will result in a conviction, but that hasn't happened yet. That's where ole Kingfish falls off the rails while conducting the PhilBilly train. Naughty Nancy (and her son Zany Zach) do not want to serve time in Parchman. They want to serve time in a cushy federal prison. That is why Naughty Nancy and Zany Zach are cooperating with prosecutors. If the Naughty News start yanking the prosectors' chains with "lurid allegations", those prosecutors could easily say "Well, enjoy your time on Parchman farm". The Naughty News may be scumbags, but even scumbags can be trusted when you've got their private parts in a vice.
Jesus, the apparent educational level of commenters on this site gets worse by the day.
So you can tell the educational level of commenters on a blog site.....you must be a genius.....PHIL
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