Sunday, July 17, 2022

Will Subpoenas Spike Favre?

Will a clawback lawsuit spike Southern Miss and Nancy New? DHS subpoenaed all records regarding the construction and funding of the brand new volleyball center on campus as it tries to clawback all funds misspent in the DHS scandal.  

Nancy New directed $5 million of TANF funds through her Mississippi Community Education Center to the USM Athletic Foundation of fund the construction of a new volleyball center. New sat on the board of the Foundation.  The subpoena told the USM Athletic Foundation to produce: 

Any email, text, note, letter, meeting minutes, agreement (or draft or proposed agreement) or any other document reflecting or referring to any promise, pledge, proposal, or agreement for any person or entity to donate, transfer or pay funds to be used to construct or improve the Volleyball Facility...

Any document reflecting the proposed, drafted, or actual terms of any lease or sublease of any part of, or any other agreement to use any part of, the Volleyball Facility...

All bank account statements sufficient to reveal either (a) the receipt of any funds resulting from any donation, transfer of the kind referred to in Paragraph No 1 or Paragraph No. 3 immediately above, or (b) any disbursement used to pay for the design or construction of the Volleyball Facility....

All documents pertaining to or reflecting any actual use of any part of the Volleyball Facility, or any athletic facility, arena, or stadium located on the USM campus by the MCEC.Any email, text, or other document reflecting any communication during 2017

between any officer, employee or board member of the Foundation (on the one hand) and any of the following persons (on the other hand):

(A) Nancy New
(B) Brett Favre
(C) John Davis
(D) Ted Dibiase, Jr. 
(E) Jesse New
(F) Zachary New
(G) Phil Bryant
(H) Deborah Bryant
The DHS audit of TANF funds spent during the tenure of former DHS Director John Davis states: 

University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation - In October 2017, MCEC signed a “sublease” with the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for $5,000,000 as “lease prepayments” for rental of a multi-purpose wellness center on the University’s campus. The lease’s term was for a five-year period from October 26, 2017 until July 31, 2022. At the time of the signing of the lease, the building had not yet been built, and the lease stated that the $5,000,000 was to fund certain additions, alterations and renovations to the new Wellness Center.  

The lease stated that MCEC would be permitted to use other University property in lieu of the Wellness Center until its construction was completed. The lease from the Athletic Foundation was then transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). The transfer of the lease was approved by the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) Board in their October 2017 Board Meeting. A review of the minutes of that Board Meeting state that the funding for the sublease between MCEC and the Athletic Foundation is from funding “via a Block Grant from the Mississippi Department of Human Services.” (p.32)

The Attorney General and  the IHL Board of Trustees approved the lease at a October 19, 2017 meeting:


USM said  it had no authority to approve agreements between MCEC and the Foundation.  

MCEC was supposed to offer services to the underserved at its offices at the wellness center but apparently never did so. 

DHS issued the subpoena on July 11.  Attorney Brad Pigott represents the Attorney General and agency.

DHS also dropped a subpoena on Supertalk FM.  The subpoena demanded Telesouth Communications produce all recordings of on-air statements made by Nancy New, John Davis, Ted Dibiase, Brett Favre, and Ted Dibiase, Jr. in 2017, 2018, and 2019. 

USM legend Brett Favre played a part as well.  Anna Wolfe reported in April: 

Favre said a nonprofit director Nancy New gave him $5 million in grant funds to build a volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi – a payment that could be part of forthcoming civil litigation....

Around the same time, Favre was getting nervous about holding the bag for more than $1 million that the Southern Miss Athletic Foundation needed to build the new volleyball facility Favre promoted.

“Hey brother Deanna and still owe 1.1 million on Vball,” Favre texted Davis, referring to his wife, Deanna Favre. “Any chance you and Nancy can help with that? They don’t need it at the moment.”.. 

“You and Nancy stuck your neck out for me with jake and Prevacus I know and that’s going to turn out very good I believe,” he added.

“Good to hear from you. Let me see what we can do,” Davis responded. We certainly want to see the VBall project come together. I’ll get back with you tomorrow. 

“We value you Brett and are willing to always be supportive. Did not look at it as sticking our neck out as much as helping a friend and potentially many many more who are in need if treatment,” the welfare director added.

But as the auditor was about to launch an investigation into Davis’ department, grant funding was up in the air.

“I still owe 1.2 for the Vball complex on campus and not sure if Nancy and John can keep covering for me,” Favre texted his business partner.

The volleyball money never came.  

A couple months later in July, Favre texted Vanlandingham: “Here is my dilemma which isn’t your concern. Nancy has been awesome to me and has paid 4.5 million for a 7 million dollar facility. And she said it was all gonna be taken care of until this morning. Suddenly she said I don’t think I can do anymore. So now I am looking at a big pay out.”

New, a USM alumnus, sat on the athletic foundation’s board. Davis also graduated from the university. Article.

 Stay tuned. 



41 comments:

Asking for a friend said...



$

$

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Does Phil's new firm do criminal white collar defense yet?

How about civil white collar defense?

Anonymous said...

Looks like a missing word or two here in your post and it seems like it matters:

" USM it had no authority to approve agreements between MCEC and the Foundation."

Anonymous said...

I don’t see how USM did anything wrong. The IHL and the AG signed off. It’s not their fault that the charity that was supposed to use it never got around to using it. That’s on the charity and their board.

As for Favre, he has demonstrable CTE.

Anonymous said...

Olds news. You’ve gotten slow on your regurgitation of days old news stories, KF.

I miss the days when you actually broke an occasional story.

Deputy Feel had better play ball said...

"Midnight volleyball," the root of all evil.

Anonymous said...

I had a whimsical thought. Can you even imagine what would happen if those DHS funds had been directed to Jackson State and Coach Prime and they built some volleyball facility? It could never happen since they don't have those connections, but wouldn't that be the scene? It would be a monumental. Ha Ha This will eventually be swept under the rug.

Anonymous said...

If its proven the funds were misspent to built the volleyball center, will USM tear down the volleyball center?

Kingfish said...

Yeah, ok, smartass. In case you missed it, since you obviously were not reading this website, I broke the stories about Baker Boy pleading guilty and Richard's lawsuit at the same time Anna Wolfe broke her stories. If it comes down to playing follow the leader and making news, I'll take making news and make no mistake, those two stories were very newsworthy oh, and then there was the youth minister at Pine Lake getting indicted. All at the same time. If Ms. Wolfe was breaking new ground such as her text message stories then I would have simply reprinted it. However, they came out of the court documents which I can read just as well. ;-). That means they got put down the list and little and I'm covering them this weekend. Don't like it? Go read another website. It takes time to read, digest, and write about those lawsuits. 30 pages here, 70 pages there, caught a break when one is 8 pages. So sorry we don't move fast enough to suit you.

Anonymous said...

KF, the haters only objective is to get or force you to cease publication.

Anonymous said...

This isn’t a website. It’s a blog.

Anonymous said...

...what about...Rodney Bennett...who just stepped down...as USM pres...the guy in charge of everything...course he probably gets a pass...for obvious reasons...

Anonymous said...

None of these scalps will mean diddly squat in the statewides next year.

Anonymous said...

@12:34 PM - Thanks for checking in Phil Bryant.

KF, stay the course.

Anonymous said...



Is anyone else hearing the music in the background of some of these TANF posts?

Is it the theme song from Dukes of Hazzard?

Or the theme song from Deliverance?

Anonymous said...

USM will end up paying the money back but the Barksdalers will demand that the volleyball facility be demolished.

Anonymous said...

1:29 Are you kidding? Rodney Bennett was in charge of nothing. Certainly not this level of "fundraising". Puppets don't pull these strings.

Anonymous said...

Where does Jess New fall in this scheme? He was the lawyer behind all it. If I am not mistaken, wasn’t he owner of several buildings that MEC was leasing????

Anonymous said...

I just way to know if shad was trying to cover for a Bryant, you know the state has covered for that family in the past

Anonymous said...

Kingfish, You are doing a good job on this. It is what it is. I'm looking forward to seeing what ALL the players are going to do. One fly in the ointment can wreck the whole thing.

Anonymous said...

a lot of this for Favre is a direct connection to his GREED. The guy is worth a fortune but couldnt just give USM, the school that did so much for him, THE MONEY out of his money. He had to get it from other sources. Based upon just a few text messages Favree KNEW where he was aking for the money to come from. He might have some criminal issues forthcoming,.....

Anonymous said...

It appears that Brett may have not been aware of where the New's were getting the money to help build the volleyball building. I am very skeptical of Brett being involved in a scam such as Miss Nancy manufactured.

Anonymous said...

Keep consuming the fodder Shad White has spoon fed you sheep for 2.5 years. The actual whole truth will be exposed soon enough. Shad overestimated himself, and underestimated others.

Anonymous said...

Idiots posting for and against based on their college football allegiance. Pitiful.

Anonymous said...

since when did farve become a volleyball fan?

Anonymous said...

And this was for women's volleyball of all things?

Anonymous said...

Did Nancy New, or her group (MCEC) ever do any activities at the Volleyball facility that they claimed was its purpose? Or did they ever use any of the other USM facilicites for such poor people training/counseling services while the Volleyball facility was under construction?

I'm sure the answer to this is already known - with the answer being no.

Of course the Volleyball facility was never intended to be used for such services to the poor or underprivileged. Despite the $5 million "lease" of the new building signed by Nancy New under the direction of Governor Bryant - through his USM buddy Brett Farve.

Bryant was so enamored with having the chance to smell the sneakers of high named persons - especially those from his alma mater - that he would do whatever to stay in their orbit.

MCEC never had any plans, programs, or shit planned to put this 'leased' facility to use - but, hey - volleyball at USM could be a great economic development project, couldn't it? Just like making pain cream, or concussion cream, or whatever, at Traditions on the coast. Who's counting which agency spends the money?

Anonymous said...

At this point, nobody takes low hanging fruit, Shad White serious anymore. He will look like a fool once the feds are finished. Seriously, ignoring Bryant’s involvement and now the Stacey Pickering disaster. BOTH whom Shad previously worked for and who both held the state auditor position. The press will have a field day with this. Bryant/Pickering/ShadWhite - liberal media’s wet dream. Truly saw much potential in Shad a couple of years ago, but this is beyond pathetic.

Anonymous said...

"Based upon just a few text messages Favree KNEW where he was aking for the money to come from. He might have some criminal issues forthcoming,..."

Asking for money isn't a crime. Nor is it a crime to 'have known where money was coming from'. Unless you are suggesting he knew the money was laundered and participated in that.

Anonymous said...

8:38
Brett's daughter was on the USM women's volleyball team. That's why he was so interested is improving their facilities.

Anonymous said...

Someone explain to me how Nancy, and only Nancy is being held responsible for the USM lease and money that went to Favre. The Governor knew about it, and may have directed it. DHS, the AG’s office and IHL approved it, all out in the open. Looks to me like Nancy was further on down the ladder….if she’s being held accountable, why aren’t the rest? This doesn’t add up on the surface.

Kingfish said...

Here is my question.

The AG approved the deal back in 2017. How does the AG clawback a deal it approved? Maybe if MCEC never actually used any of the property but then again, the AG ok'ed the use of the DHS grant.

Anonymous said...

clawback? now there's a novel but untested theory when dealing with fraudulent investments in MS

Anonymous said...

Any notion of clawback is pure politics. If the state was serious, TeleSouth and USM would have been included in the civil suit. The state (Lynn Fitch and Shad White) doesn’t want to be involved in suing a public university and suing TeleSouth (SuperTalk) isn’t politically convenient, especially when another election season is coming up. Plus, what would Shad do without his weekly crime report with Gerard Gibert?

Anonymous said...

8:42. Because she was going to be the fall guy in the whole mess, but a cutie pie from Washington rained on their parade. Your question is so in your face accurate.

Anonymous said...

Wait until you see how involved the powers that be at Canopy are in this situation.

Kingfish said...

I was commenting on the volleyball grant, not the entire scandal.

Anonymous said...

Southern Miss should've consulted Ole Miss on how to use earmarked tax payer money for athletics without getting caught. Rookie mistake.

Anonymous said...

Is Southern Farm Bureau Insurance still featuring Favre in some ads?

I seem to recall him being on a billboard or two that Southern Farm Bureau had up.

Anonymous said...

2:24 - No. Now they're using that barely literate baseball player from MSU who calls himself the mayor and claims Farm Bureau has always had his back and nobody wins alone.

But, why do you ask? Is Favre prohibited from participating in income generating endeavor?

Anonymous said...

Poor little Anna W just can’t turn the corner on her phony story. Obviously the THC content in the stuff she shares with her sycophant Dem combat boot lickers is more than she can bear!

Anonymous said...

Kingfish nailed it once again When The AG approves the use of the money how can USM be in trouble. I mean what are they supposed to do. They got an AG opinion.



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