If at first you fail, fail, fail again in Madison County. Such is the case after the Madison County Board of Supervisors gave a raise to Comptroller Na'son White yesterday.
Supervisor Trey Baxter challenged the raise as he argued the Board should not reward the comptroller who allowed the county to get scammed out of millions of dollars.
Madison County Comptroller Na'son White sent three payments totaling $2.7 million in March and February 2024 to a thief posing as Hemphill Construction. A "Jay Hemphill" emailed a request to send Hemphill's payments to a different bank. White fell for the scam and issued the payments. The comptroller called to verify the request but failed to notice the suspect's thick Middle-Eastern accent. The fraud was discovered when Hemphill Construction inquired about its payment for its work on the Reunion Parkway Project.
As Mr. Baxter lobbied against White's raise, Mr. Brannon said he did not pull the item because of the questionable raise. Supervisors Steen, Banks, and Griffin voted for the raise.
Synopsis
A person purporting to be Jay Hemphill of Hemphill Construction Company emailed the purchasing clerk for Madison County. The clerk forwarded the email to County Comptroller Na'Son White. The county has a contract with Hemphill Construction to build Reunion Parkway Phase III. However, Jay Hemphill has been deceased for over 30 years and no Hemphill has been at the company in over 40 years.
The email stated what was owed and directed the county to send payments to a different bank account. The email contained multiple misspellings. The comptroller called to confirm and spoke to a man with a thick Middle-Eastern accent in Germany. (Yes, your reading comprehension is working just fine.).
"Jay" sent legitimate Hemphill invoices and used an email address that used a ".com" address instead of ".us."
The county sent the following payments:
2-21-24: $128,990
3-13-24: $1,073,870
3-15-24: $1,538,383
Total: $2,741,244
White tried to send another payment to "Jay" on March 11 but Renasant Bank returned the payment. She notified "Jay" of the return. "Jay" sent her new payment instructions. White graciously sent the March 15 payment ($1,583,383).
The scam was detected when Hemphill Construction called to inquire about its payment. One can imagine what took place on the phone. The County Comptroller claims she paid Hemphill. Hemphill says no, you never paid us. The fraud was discovered but not before Madison County lost $2.7 million.
The county recovered $2.1 million through the efforts of law enforcement.
Kingfish note: Ms. White should have been fired instead of receiving a raise.
28 comments:
Lot of incompetence in Madison County, and apparently it pays pretty damn good.
I like Na son and she got scammed trying to do her job. I get she made a mistake, but as far as mistakes go, this was an honest, yet expensive one.
Crime pays. Doing the "right" thing is idiotic in this world. Fuck this women.
Job performance is not the primary consideration for raises and other benefits. If it were the board would be setting a precedent they cannot follow, not in the good ole boy system which still controls county politics. This is typical and consistent.
Yep. In the private sector Ms. White would’ve been shitcanned for being this lazy and retarded. Instead of being humble and grateful to still have a job, she is shameless. Since her management are likely equally as lazy and retarded as she is, and they all get raises despite being worthless government teat suckers, they think she deserves a raise as well.
Always good to see that the Madison County Board of Supervisors has one sane voice (Baxter) amongst the thieves; but with the history of the five member board of this county, all it takes is one turncoat to switch and join up with the two Democrats (Banks and Griffin) to gain control when all is required to keep them happy is to reward their buddies with other people's money.
With those democrats the money is "free"
Rise to the highest level of incompetence, Madison Co. version.
Nason is Paul Griffin’s incompetent employee. Banks of course went along with her raise. Gerald Steen, who is Madison County’s biggest problem, provided the third vote. Steen needs to go. He needs a quality opponent in the next election.
The majority of White's staff is female democrat and they can get anything they want with the MCBOS......FACT
Being a female democrat is the only reason White was not terminated for giving away 2.7 million.
$108,763.20 / year, not a bad income for being foolish with other peoples money.
Spot on. The dirty little secret in Madison County is how many people "fail upwards." Take a look at all of the administrators in the Madison County School District office. Many principals that were horrible at their jobs. Instead of firing them, they make a Director of Something job at the County Office and give them a raise.
Take a look at Germantown High and Middle Schools. Both were profiled on this site a couple years ago for all the trouble. Take a look at where all of those principals ended up.
And I believe Steen can be counted on as the turncoat.
Who amongst us has not wired several million dollars overseas to a scammer??? Retardation should not be celebrated.
Welcome to Madison, the County of disfunction.
Gerald Steen is a Democrat and the definition of a RHINO that teams up with Democrats Banks and Griffin to run Madison County. Steen scratches the Democrats backs, while the Democrats scratch his. Same ____ing song and dance that was happening when Tim Johnson was there, and their pal Rudy Warnock was getting rich off of Madison County.
Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is obviously in on the Steen Banks Griffin scam since he could certainly have someone run against and oust Steen, if he wanted to. Maybe Gene McGee’s reason for supporting Steen is that wants the rest of Madison County to become like the Old Canton RD part of Ridgeland.
Democrat Banks would not be there if not for the IDIOTS wanting a visual deed to 500 acres of land off of Stribling RD; then when they didn’t get the vote they wanted, since the development was approved, they ousted Republican Bishop in the primary only to lose to Democrat Banks in the general. After Steen helped Banks with redistricting, Banks will be a fixture on the Madison County Board of Supervisors until he dies, and another incompetent Democrat takes over.
When Madison County falls let’s make certain everyone knows it was due to RHINO Democrat Gerald Steen and his supporters like Gene McGee teaming up with the other two Democrats Banks and Griffin. Democrats destroy everything they get involved in. One only has to watch Canton Municipal Utilities dump raw sewage into lakes - and look at the Murder Capital City of Jackson, MS for proof of this beyond any doubt.
P.S. While he certainly did the right thing on this vote, word is Baxter is arrogant and may have an opponent come next election.
Banks, Griffin, and Steen are absolutely holding Madison back with their corrupt politics and backdoor deals to line the pockets of their cronies and themselves. Leftover trash from the Rudy days. Get them out or more of the same garbage is in store.
Don’t leave out that weasel Steen.
Fake/AI
Wow. I guess I should never be surprised by the level of vitriol aimed at public employees or elected officials, as if they are somehow these alien creatures who dropped out of deep space to torment us. These folks are our neighbors, fellow citizens, fellow tax-payers (except Rukia), friends and family members. They are not above criticism, but, Jesus Christ, give them a break from the incessant, unrelenting hate-filled calls for lynching.
I was told that Steen votes with Banks and Griffin so he can get what he wants in his district. A lot of this is Gene McGee versus Mary Hawkins in play.
It is surprising that someone hasn’t challenged Steen in the primary.
Man…it’s a sad day when your work gets scrutinized by a bunch of bigots and when your work actually sucks.
Clean sweep the entire bunch!
@3:10 - how about just a little competency from our elected
officials? Do you think that is asking too much? Ms White's lack of intelligence for falling for this scam is breath taking - you must also be an elected official or public employee who thinks "money is free".
at the end of the day the county or its insurance was out $600 k because she was stupid enough to fall for a con ! Lets hope some Nigerian Minister of Finance doesn't need help moving 200 million out of country
Steen has always been a maneuvering weasel. If his opponent brings this up next election, I think it'll stick.
@3:10, I wish "these folks" were somebody else's neighbors instead! Then maybe we wouldn't be missing nearly $3 million!
It was a terrible mistake, but not an uncommon one. Most county and municipal governments are not investing in cybersecurity training for their employees. That leaves many of employees with no idea what to watch out for with scams. Local governments and school districts are among the most likely victims of cybercrime precisely because the staffs there have not gotten any training. Google "local government cyber attacks" and see how common this problem is across the US.
Calling for this person's head does nothing to prevent the same thing from happening elsewhere.
SHE should've never gotten past the next meeting as an employee after the Admin and board knew about it. Nice lady but dayum. It was all so messed up from the beginning. Don't blame Mr. Baxter for having this opinion. Yea Mr. Steen is doing Mr. Steen as he has always.
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