Tuesday, February 11, 2020

MCEC Asks Court to Unfreeze Bank Account, (Updated)

Update (4:35 PM): Judge Peterson vacated the injunction without prejudice. 

Update (12:15 PM): State Auditor Shad White filed a petition today asking the court to dismiss the injunction freezing MCEC's Regions bank account.  The petition is posted below in the court file. 
 
The Mississippi Community Education Center asked Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson yesterday to lift an order freezing its bank account.  Judge Peterson froze the account last week when MCEC Executive Director Nancy New was indicted for allegedly embezzling $4.15 million in grant funds received from the Mississippi Department of Human Services.



MCEC's legal team filed an emergency motion to vacate Judge Peterson's freeze order.  MCEC petitioned the court as a "real party in interest" since it is not a defendant in the case.   The company states it simply can not function without operating capital:

15. MCEC has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable harm by the Court's Order seizing its assets without due process. MCEC's inability to access its funds will affect its ability to pay employees and will disrupt the provision of vital social services and community­ based services in 42 Mississippi counties. The funds in this account constitute monies to be spent on programs separate and apart from the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

16. While MCEC is making its best efforts to keep these programs open and serving its clients, it cannot do so without the necessary operating funds.



MCEC further argues the State Auditor had no authority to freeze its bank account nor did it even institute civil proceedings to freeze the company's assets.  The state did not serve MCEC with a copy of the request for the injunction. 

MCEC asked Judge Peterson to vacate the order.  Attorneys Amanda Barbour, Charles Griffin, and Frank Rosenblatt of Butler Snow represent  MCEC.







29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see Butler Snow is involved in this filing.

Anonymous said...

Lord Snow tangled up with yet another criminal enterprise. Not surprising at all. I am sure the real reason they want the funds released is so Lord Snow can get paid.

Anonymous said...

Gotta pay for the plane tickets to Cancun.

Anonymous said...

a mere 15 years ago the aged, oaken, stoic, ivory tower of butler snow would have never got their hands or their stuffed shirts dirty by handling a criminal case. such cases were to be handled by that 'other' group of south of capitol street lawyers. my, how times have changed. tort reform , [remember that], back in the early 2000s put a real crimp in their business. thats precisely why they branched out into lobbying [remember the toad frog named haley], and becoming investment brokers, [remember a guy named lamar adams.] however since mississippi seems to have become the scammer , film-flam , fraud capitol of the world, eclipsing even nigeria, i guess it was a natural fit. a little advise to the criminal law experts at BS; carry a big bottle of hand sanitizer with you at all times so you can disinfect yourselves after meeting with your new breed of clients.

Anonymous said...

Appoint someone to meet payroll from the frozen account. That's it.

Anonymous said...

If they processed a closeout like every other organization they would have zero DHS dollars moving from one grant year to a next which means whatever they had left in their account from DHS on 12/31/19 should be paid back this month. Equipment can roll over from one grant year to another but not cash. That MCEC board should have some accountability here for rubber stamping approvals. If not then why have a board?

Anonymous said...

Interestingly, I received a fundraising solicitation from none other than Shad White at about the same time he went public with this case (without including the feds this shining the light only on himself as our financial oversight savior). A pure coincidence I'm certain.

Anonymous said...

Gosh damn you Butler Snow haters. In this case, they are not representing a criminal enterprise, as some have said, nor are they messing in a territory that the ivory tower group wouldn't have touched years ago (again, B/S. They have represented all kinds of clients over the years; for those with short lifespans, they represented a disgraced PSC Commisioner decades ago along with other such defendants)

In this case, MCEC claims that they have no association with the folks that Shad has indicted. Whether they do or not, I don't know but at least at this point in time, there has been no connection made.

If Shad has a basis to tie them into the fraud, let him do it. And even at that time, everybody is entitled to a defense. Just because you hate the success of Butler/Snow doesn't indict all their clients.

And no, I'm not associated with B/S in any way - and frankly, don't give a damn as to whether they succeed or fail. Never used their services, nor do I think I could ever afford them if I did need them.

But this site's 'haters' - of B/S, of the City of Jackson, of Tater, of Dilbert, or of anybody but themselves is getting to be ridiculous.


This post had to do with the operation of MCEC - yet the only comments that show up are pointing to Butler Snow. Ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

According to the motion, filed by a non-party and without moving to intervene in the case, the District Attorney's office filed numerous pleading in open court with an unredacted bank account number containing $1.5 million. On it's merits, the motion claims the order granting injunctive relief is fatally-defective on its face.

As 10:28 mentioned, I do get a perverse satisfaction out of watching politicians and lobbyists attempt to litigate cases, God help me.

Anonymous said...

But this site's 'haters' of anybody but themselves is getting to be ridiculous.

AGREED. And boring.

Anonymous said...

Keep it up Butler Snow. You are doing a good on line attempt to turn the readers on this site.

Anonymous said...

@10:28 "In this case, MCEC claims that they have no association with the folks that Shad has indicted. Whether they do or not, I don't know but at least at this point in time, there has been no connection made."

Read the indictment. Nancy New is the executive director of MCEC and her son Zach is the assistant executive director. They looted over $4M out of MCEC and transferred it to a private for-profit entity they owned and invested the money in two Florida medical companies with the beneficial ownership being Nancy and Zach New. There is more than ample ties between MCEC and the people Shad has indicted.

Anonymous said...

Shad dropped the freeze on the account? That is very surprising. MCEC was almost entirely funded by grants through MDHS. I can see appointing a receiver to ensure valid claims are paid for things like payroll, but to dismiss without prejudice as being moot is unusual if Shad believes federal funds were taken from MCEC.

I hope this doesn't indicate a breakdown in the case.

Anonymous said...

i find it very amusing that all of the account numbers in the attached paperwork have been blacked out. there is a reason for that . there are so many scam artists in mississippi the authorities are afraid that the scammers, nancy and zack new may get ........you guessed it...........scammed.

Anonymous said...

10:28am , in addition to being a total idiot about the facts of this criminal enterprise, [see the post at 1:42 for the correct facts], seems to have a problem with all the 'haters' out there. 10;28 does a little hating himself. in this case he hates the truth.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see a timeline of all the events that led up to this. We know that Davis left in July 2019 after the audit had been initiated. But in November 2019 Bryant was still singing the praises of Nancy New. When did Tater film his public school commercial at her private school? Surely they had to know the New's were connected to this embezzlement scheme at that point. If they didn't know, why?

Anonymous said...

10:28 - Not only are your panties twisted, you claim 'all the comments posted are about Butlet/Snow'. At the point of your post, exactly 3 out of 7 posts were in regard to your buds at BS. That's not 'all'. It's only 40%, which leaves 60%, which is way more than half...Even if you're taking a lawyer's cut.

Anonymous said...

Non lawyer here. Is the account still frozen or not??

Anonymous said...

Can Mississippi survive another 4 years of republican leadership? Feel and Tater Tot have done nothing to lead the state. I was a life long resident of Mississippi that moved to another state recently. So glad I did. The commenters on the board love to run down Jackson but is Tot any better than Choke Weed? They are both in over their heads.

Anonymous said...

4:52 - I guess you don't know that if you make a comment that it doesn't get posted immediately upon your touching the post button. At the time I made my comment, 4 of the 5 comments were bitching about Butler Snow being involved in the case - something that KF had mentioned at the end of his post.

I'll take the criticism for there being one comment (at the time) that didn't relate to BS, which was the last one at the time, but the comment still stands as valid.

And again I would say, not only am I not a part of the Butler Snow cabal, I'm not a lawyer, and I don't give a damn about any of the folks involved in this scandal. But I do think the thing worth discussing has to do with the scandal, not who is hired as the attorney for one of the non-parties.

Anonymous said...

The fact that BS represents this entity tells me all I need to know. Our very own shadow government deep state thingy is in the way—-again.
Let us all ACCEPT THE FACT that as long as it lasts, MS taxpayers will never get a fair shake. Black, White, Republican, or Democrat.

They parade around as a “white shoe” law firm in MS which is probably the biggest insult to my intelligence yet. If I were guilty as sin, I’d want them on my side, too.

Anonymous said...

Shad White briefly worked for BS, and full-well knows what they're capable of....now he's going to trace the money back to their dirty hands....with the law on his side. Unfortunately, get your popcorn....this could take years.

Anonymous said...

6:26 - Find something worthwhile about which to theorize, other than who posts about which subject and the timeline of posts appearing as related to when they were keyed. My God Man!

Let people connect dots. If all the dots lining up (in this and other scandals) include Butler Snow, let that be pointed out. By the way, it's nonsense to jump straddle of throats and then claim you don't give a shit one way or the other. Sure you do.

Anonymous said...

For those who had trouble following:

1) MCEC filed an emergency motion to vacate Judge Peterson's freeze order. (i.e. to unfreeze funds )
2) Shad counter-filed to dismiss the motion MCEC submitted.
3) Judge Peterson dismissed MCEC's motion.

Anonymous said...

Any news about Mike Brown? I heard he is out of jail and in Alabama.

Anonymous said...

not only does BS represent MCEC, the also represent nancy and zack new personally on their criminal indictments. dont take my word for it. go down to the clerks office and look at the files. dont forget you bottle of hand sanitizer.

Anonymous said...

..."a 'white shoe' law firm in MS..."

Um, well, good, bad, or mediocre, they are at best a white sock law firm which has had (at best) a very tiny number of "white shoe" members in its history. Butler Snow is based in Jackson, MS for a reason.

Anonymous said...

@9:46 check your facts Super Sleuth. Per the clerk filings, BS represents MCEC. The filings say nothing about representing either of the News individually. Good job, Columbo.

Anonymous said...

Dear Columbo, as I read the comment at 9:46, it states that Butler Snow also represents the News "personally on their criminal indictments," not in the civil case.



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