Thursday, September 22, 2022

John Davis to Plead Guilty Today (Updated)

Davis pleads guilty.  DOJ press release at bottom of post. 

Former DHS Director John Davis will plead guilty to 5 counts of conspiracy and 13 counts of fraud against the government in U.S. District Court today.  Hinds County Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten issued an order of nolle prosequi late Wednesday afternoon. The order states:

 3.  The State and Defense have announced that a global plea resolution has been reached between the State, the federal authorities and the Defendant, John Davis, whereby the Defendant, John Davis has agreed to fully cooperate, including providing truthful testimony at trial, with the State and all federal authorities in the prosecution of any and all additional criminally charged defendants, in State or Federal Court, for the criminal misuse of Federal TANF grant funds, State of Mississippi Funds, Mississippi Community of Education Center funds or any other funds available to or through the Mississippi Department of Human Services during his tenure as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The State and the Defense have advised the Court that pursuant to the global plea resolution, all parties have agreed that the Defendant, John Davis will serve all of his incarcerated time in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

4. On September 21, 2022 the United States unsealed an indictment against the Defendant, John Davis, alleging the felony crimes of Conspiracy and Theft from Programs Receiving Federal Funds, in violation of 18 U.S.C 371 and 18 U.S.C. 666. The State and the Defense have advised the Court that the Defendant, John Davis will enter guilty pleas to the federal charges, with a recommendation on the morning of September 22, 2022, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

5. The State and the Defense has announced to the Court that a plea agreement has been reached between the State and the Defendant, John Davis, whereby the Defendant, John Davis, will enter a guilty plea to five counts of Conspiracy and thirteen counts of Fraud Against the Government, in violation of Section 97-1-1 and 97-7-10 of the Mississippi Code Ann., with a recommendation from the State. The plea in State Court will occur be by way of a Bill of information and is scheduled to take place before this Court on September 22, 2022, subsequent to the Defendant's federal guilty plea.

 

A hearing will be held in federal court at 8 AM and in Hinds County Circuit Court at 10:30 AM.  Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten and U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves will preside.

The maximum sentence for conspiracy is 5 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.  The maximum sentence for theft involving programs receiving federal funds is 10 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.  

State Auditor Shad White said: 

Today marks an important day for justice for Mississippians in the massive welfare scheme that my office uncovered more than two years ago. District Attorney Jody Owens and his team did an incredible job putting a stop to the flow of money to the fraudsters who took from the poorest in the state. We would not be here if they had not shown courage and the willingness to charge these individuals with crimes. We are also grateful for our federal partners and their work obtaining a guilty plea this week, too. My team has given every piece of evidence we have to federal investigators and will continue to work jointly with them to see this matter to its conclusion.

Update: The Justice Department issued the following statement. 

A former Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) official pleaded guilty today for conspiring to defraud the State of Mississippi of millions of dollars in federal funds.

According to court documents, John Davis, 54, of Jackson, Mississippi, and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained and misused federal funds – including funds from two programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) – for their personal use and benefit. At Davis’s direction, MDHS provided federal funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the two nonprofit organizations to fraudulently award contracts to various entities and individuals for social services that were never provided. In addition, Davis caused the nonprofit organizations to disburse full or almost-full payments pursuant to those sham contracts at or near the beginning of the contract periods, regardless of whether any work had been performed and knowing that no significant services would be provided.

Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 2, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy count and 10 years in prison for the theft concerning programs receiving federal funds count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi; Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the FBI Jackson Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Tamala Miles of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG); and Special Agent in Charge Dax Roberson of the Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG) made the announcement.

The FBI, HHS-OIG, and USDA-OIG are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Adrienne E. Rosen and Della Sentilles of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Fraud Section, respectively, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dave Fulcher and Andrew Eichner for the Southern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the case.


 

 

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

What Volleyball Arena Doing?

Anonymous said...

Feds nor State needed to deal to get Nancy. So ask yourself, why did they deal? Who is the target? Sounds like a double barrel is now aimed at Phil.

Anonymous said...

Errrbody keeps saying it’s going to be Philbilly. I’m so over the speculation & really hope his old thieving ass goes down. When they finish with him, they need to move on to Tater Tot. Come on Shadraq, Judge Reeves, Judge Whootwhooten, anybody! Do something.

Anonymous said...

Shad’s not ever going to go after Phil. If anything, he’ll go down on, I mean with, Phil. He clearly tried to protect him early on.

Anonymous said...

Did they get Feel's passport?

Anonymous said...

Better cook up a big bowl of popcorn. This is about to get interesting. Looks like ol' John been singing like a bird to the feds.

Anonymous said...

The US Attorney (democrat) is a Biden appointee. It stands to reason that he would love to take down Phil Bryant. Standby.

Anonymous said...

I bet it sounds like Spring with all the birds singing.

Anonymous said...

"What Volleyball Arena Doing?" Screwing up parking at Bulldog Burgers.

Anonymous said...

8:03 he’s only been nominated. He hasn’t taken over yet and probably won’t for bit longer.

Anonymous said...

Can someone please ask Anna Wolfe to PLEASE get a comment on the record from her Editor, Adam Ganucheau, on how his MOTHER that worked for Atty General Jim Hood, wrote a memo blessing the transaction? Just curious since they have had a day to come up with some bullshit response, lets see if they have the balls or vajayjay to answer that question.

Quite an interesting turn in events on the case. So the atty general's office and attorney that works in IHL blessed the USM deal. I will pop the popcorn and listen to Adam whine because his momma is probably beating his ass right about now.

Anonymous said...

@6:49 wins the day.

Anonymous said...

9:14

You are correct that the IHL approved the lease between USM, USM Athletic Foundation and MCEC. If you would care to read the lease start on page 18 from this link: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/6787375/Amended-and-Restated-Lease-FULLY-EXECUTED.pdf

Although the lease seems to greatly benefit USM while not providing MCEC comparable benefits and is in general not a good use of money, that does not make it illegal. Nor does the lease ever mention the source of the $5 million from MCEC. Had the lease said the funds were coming from DHS welfare funds, the legal opinion may have been different. It's the source of the funds that is the problem, not the lease itself.

Anonymous said...

All you tate lovers and Phil supporters

The walls are caving in on your boys….Phil may not escape some time

Tate needs to quit shielding Brett or he may face an obstruction angle

What a good day!

Anonymous said...

Here's what Shadrack said yesterday"

“I think as the civil trial progresses, you’ll see more and more documents come out that show who was doing what through the course of this massive misspending problem,” White said.

“I think the public will begin to understand, here are the folks that bear some responsibility, here are the folks that don’t bear some responsibility.

And at the end of it, some folks will be charged by a prosecutor with a crime, and some folks simply will not.

They’ll have their reputations tarnished a little bit, or a lot of bit, but, at the end of the day, I think the public is going to learn more about this case.”

Does that sound like the big shots are getting charged criminally? Doesn't sound like it to me.

Read that part saying "bear 'SOME' responsibility" and then "that DON'T bear 'SOME' responsibility"

"reputations tarnished a little bit" .....

Gosh, doesn't sound like many other folks are getting charged, period. Much less convicted. 20 lashes with a wet noodle, at most.

Anonymous said...

What Whistleblower Doing?

Anonymous said...

Shad has done the right thing and will continue to do the right thing. Watch, listen and learn.

Anonymous said...

someone pleaseeeee name the co-conspirators...

Anonymous said...

11:30:

Thanks for the comments, Shad. Did you run it by Daddy Phil before posting?

Anonymous said...

9/22/22 @9:14AM - "Can someone please ask Anna Wolfe to PLEASE get a comment on the record from her Editor, Adam Ganucheau, on how his MOTHER that worked for Atty General Jim Hood, wrote a memo blessing the transaction? Just curious since they have had a day to come up with some bullshit response, lets see if they have the balls or vajayjay to answer that question.

Quite an interesting turn in events on the case. So the atty general's office and attorney that works in IHL blessed the USM deal. I will pop the popcorn and listen to Adam whine because his momma is probably beating his ass right about now."

THANK YOU. For all the digging Anna Wolfe pretends to have done, there sure has been radio silence about her editor's MOTHER being involved.

Anonymous said...

or better yet can someone press Shad on why his investigation didn't uncover Phil's involvement from the very beginning

Anonymous said...

2:03 Is that the best you got? The only radio silence I've noted is over at Super Talk.

Anonymous said...

3:02 and 2:03 for that matter...I will never understand the grand posturing for "your side" of the aisle? Unless they are paying you actual dividends, why would anyone defend any criminal politician?

With some modicum of common sense and decency, I can say that I hope Adam's Mom, Philbilly, the News, Favre, Lacoste and anyone else involved in TANF fraud are punished.

Black, White, Republican, Democrat. Crime should be punished. I am not dumb enough to think it will ever be fairly applied to anyone of power, but why cant we can agree that it should be?


Anonymous said...

Lock ‘em all up and throw away the keys! I’m so damn tired of my wife and I working our asses off every day of every week and paying taxes just so fraudsters of every kind, color and party can steal from us!

Anonymous said...

SuperTalk has covered the corruption of Phil, Brett, Davis and New in full throat.

I saw it on a crawl the other day. Must have been 9 or ten words on the bottom of the screen.

Gilbert said he will only cover the story if a state employee goes to jail.

Anonymous said...

9:55
That is the point, if an attorney with the AG did not know where the funds where coming from, then how in the hell is Paul Lacoste supposed to know? And further more, how do you sign a lease with someone on a building that is not even built yet? I will hang up and listen.


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