Mississippi Today
Welfare fraud tipster turns alleged perpetrator
Welfare fraud tipster turns alleged perpetrator
The former welfare agency official who brought information about corruption to then-Gov. Phil Bryant — breaking open a massive public fraud case that eventually ensnared NFL legend Brett Favre — is now one of the scandal’s biggest culprits, according to the state.
“‘Shot himself in the foot’ is a great way to phrase it,” said Logan Reeves, spokesperson for the state auditor’s office, which originally investigated the case.
State-employed attorney Jacob Black is facing allegations that he himself participated in the illegal welfare scheme, that he racially discriminated against an employee under him, and that blowing the proverbial whistle was for his own benefit.
“He was just always bragging how he was the whistleblower,” Kristie Greer-Ellis, former regional director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, said during a court deposition earlier this year, “that he was going to be the next executive director and that he was going to be the one who makes all of the changes and that nobody was to … go through anybody but directly to him.”
Greer-Ellis also alleged Black was hostile towards Black women — an allegation he denies — to the point that when Black women working for the agency needed him to address something, they would enlist a white colleague instead. This is the basis of an ongoing race discrimination lawsuit that former MDHS deputy administrator Dana Kidd is bringing against the agency.
Black did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Black, now a staff officer at the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, joined the executive staff at the Mississippi Department of Human Services in 2015, just before John Davis became director. Davis pleaded guilty in September to a combined 20 state and federal counts of fraud, conspiracy, or theft.
Since arrests in 2020, officials have pegged Davis and politically connected educator Nancy New, who founded a nonprofit that received tens of millions in welfare funds to run a program called Families First for Mississippi, as the main architects of the scandal. New has also pleaded guilty to bribery and fraud. Forensic auditors say they and others stole or misspent at least $77 million.
Had Black not turned information over in mid-2019, the fraud may have never been uncovered.
But as legal counsel, Black was instrumental in crafting many of the grants in question to appear to fit within the guidelines of different federal programs the agency administers, including the welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. If Davis was the architect, according to the auditor’s findings, Black was the engineer.
Black once wrote in an email to Nancy New’s son Zach New, assistant director for the nonprofit, that if they wanted to construct a building with TANF, or welfare funds, it shouldn’t take receipts from the contractors because that “seems to get really close to showing that you all are controlling the Brick and Mortar process which TANF has a strict prohibition against; however, if you have worked with your attorney, I have no issues with [it] because this is a lease that you will be a party to not MDHS.”
He recommended adding a clause that would “be vague enough to not tie you directly to the construction.”
In this email, Black was discussing a palliative care facility for medically fragile children that Nancy New and then-Mississippi first lady Deborah Bryant were working to build, a project that eventually fell apart.
But MDHS, New’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, and the University of Southern Mississippi used this same legal analysis when crafting a $5 million lease agreement to build a new volleyball stadium at the school, according to an amended civil complaint MDHS recently filed to recoup misspent welfare funds.
The volleyball stadium scheme, first uncovered by Mississippi Today, has emerged as the centerpiece of the welfare scandal in recent months.
“Jacob Black, then-Deputy Administrator of MDHS, and Garrig Shields, then-Deputy Executive Director of MDHS, provided substantial assistance to the co-conspirators by advising on how to circumvent the TANF prohibition,” the complaint alleges. “… Black provided substantial assistance to John Davis, Nancy New, Zachary New, and MCEC by providing the template for the sham USM Athletic Foundation Sublease as a means of fraudulently disguising the true nature of the payments made to the USM Athletic Foundation.”
The amended complaint alleges for the first time in court that Black and Shields met with USM athletics officials and university administrators in mid-2017 and “advised at this meeting that the source of the funds would be TANF funds and that the sublease would be with MCEC because MDHS ‘can’t directly fund a building project.’”
MDHS originally told Mississippi Today in February of 2020, during a two-month long stretch in which Black was interim director of the agency, that MDHS officials had no knowledge of any deal related to the volleyball stadium.
Shortly after the 2017 meeting, Shields left MDHS to work for New’s nonprofit, then went into private practice with another attorney working under the Families First program, Laura Goodson. Shields has not returned Mississippi Today’s request for comment.
The complaint said Black and Shields are both jointly liable, along with several others, for damages totaling nearly $6.9 million and $6.7 million, respectively. These are civil charges, but Zach New pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of defrauding the government because of the sham USM lease agreement.
Whether or not he intended to, Black was instrumental in exposing this and other alleged fraud schemes he’s now accused of perpetuating.
Black, who was second in command at MDHS, and a few of his colleagues began gathering evidence about his boss’ potential corruption in the last months of Davis’ tenure. They were focused on Davis’ relationship with a professional wrestler named Brett DiBiase, whom Davis had hired and then showered with lucrative welfare contracts, and his brother Teddy DiBiase Jr., who appeared to be going into business with Davis. At this time, the welfare agency operated under a nebulous structure in which public and private ventures were commingled and much of the federal spending happened outside public sight and without proper documentation.
Even for some on the inside, it was a challenge to discern or document exactly what was going on at the agency and the private welfare delivery system called Families First for Mississippi, according to several interviews with employees of the state agency and nonprofit.
“When you started publishing all of this stuff, that’s when a lot of us found out what was going on,” Dana Kidd, who ran the division TANF is housed under during the scandal, told Mississippi Today in a recent interview. “It wasn’t until you started publishing stuff that we found out what was going on. We had no clue.”
It’s unclear what Black knew about the overarching fraud scheme polluting the agency, though emails and texts show he played a critical role in keeping the funds flowing.
But the fraud tip he took to Bryant was a relatively small discovery. Under the contract Davis awarded to Brett DiBiase’s company, the wrestler was using a P.O. Box that belonged to Davis. The abnormality suggested Davis might be accepting a kickback, though prosecutors have never presented evidence to that effect. Instead, the men explained that DiBiase was using his boss’ P.O. Box because he was having marital problems and wanted to hide the earnings from his wife.
In June of 2019, while Davis, Nancy New, Ted DiBiase Jr., Kidd and others were in D.C., where Davis was testifying before Congress about the federal food assistance program, Black took the information to Bryant’s office.
Bryant turned the information over to State Auditor Shad White, Bryant’s former campaign manager and the rising politician Bryant appointed to fill a vacant state auditor seat in 2018. White’s office began investigating Davis and Brett DiBiase, and within days, Bryant forced Davis to retire.
“Everything changed when Mr. Davis left,” Greer-Ellis, former regional director, said in her deposition. “I mean, immediately Jacob went on, in my personal opinion, an attack, like he – everything was done deliberately, and he was not ashamed about anything. He even mentioned himself being the whistleblower and all that. He was just outright just flamboyant with his stuff.”
Auditor White has since credited Bryant — not Black — as the whistleblower of the case, though the tip would eventually lead investigators to an alleged illegal scheme to funnel welfare money to a pharmaceutical company connected to Bryant. Bryant denies knowing the company, Prevacus, had received public funds, though texts show Favre and Bryant discussed the project at length and that Favre even told the governor when it began receiving money from the state. The texts also show Bryant continued to lobby for the company and agreed to accept a stock agreement after leaving office. These texts were not revealed until Mississippi Today published them in April, more than two years after investigators collected them.
Favre, Prevacus, and its founder, Jake Vanlandingham, are all named in the ongoing MDHS civil suit, but Bryant is not.
The auditor’s office maintains that Black is not the “whistleblower” because he did not take the information to an investigative body, as specified in the state’s whistleblower statute.
In May, after MDHS released a third forensic audit report revealing Black’s email about “brick and mortar,” the auditor’s office issued a $3.6 million demand for repayment on Black. He didn’t face official civil charges until he was added to the state’s lawsuit this month. As is true for most people named in the suit, including Favre, Black has not faced criminal charges related to the scandal.
Just a few days after MDHS added Black to the suit, a federal judge in Kidd’s separate racial discrimination case ruled that the allegations against Black were enough basis for the case against MDHS to move forward and go to trial.
“An employee who worked under Kidd testified that Mr. Black ‘had a problem with Black females’ and that he made clear that most employees he wanted to terminate were Black,” reads U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan’s recent order. “That same employee stated that Mr. Black would treat white employees more favorably than Black employees.”
Kidd brought the lawsuit against MDHS in April, alleging the agency discriminated against her on the basis of age, race, and disability when it forced her to retire in 2020. Kidd’s attorney is the prolific north Mississippi trial lawyer Jim Waide, who is also representing a separate defendant in the MDHS civil lawsuit, Austin Smith, Davis’ nephew.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services asked the court for a summary judgment. Jordan granted the state’s request related to the age and disability claims, effectively throwing them out, but said the race claim should move forward. When asked for a response, MDHS told Mississippi Today it does not comment on pending litigation.
Black denied the allegations of racial bias in his deposition, saying the one employee he has promoted in his time at Medicaid is a Black woman. Black also said Greer-Ellis and Kidd are “super close friends, so the validity of that testimony I would highly question.”
Kidd has apparent connections, personally and through husband Alvin Kidd, with other welfare employees or contractors caught up in the welfare probe. Alvin Kidd is friends with and played high school football with Marcus Dupree, a former star high school running back and one of the high-profile defendants in the civil lawsuit. Dupree received at least $371,000 in welfare funds, the complaint alleges. Nancy New’s nonprofit bought Dupree a horse ranch, Mississippi Today first uncovered in 2020, where he lives, according to the suit. Kidd said she didn’t know how Dupree got connected to Families First.
Dupree and Alvin Kidd also grew up with the father of Gregory “Latimer” Smith, the young MDHS procurement officer charged with fraud related to payments to Brett DiBiase. The Kidds have been close with Smith since he was a kid; Dana Kidd even helped him get the job at MDHS, she said. Smith’s case has since been referred through pre-trial diversion, a program that could keep the charge off his record.
Dana Kidd worked for the welfare agency for 30 years, starting out as an entry-level eligibility worker.
“This is not one of those employment cases where an employer fires an underperforming or heavily disciplined employee,” Judge Jordan wrote in his latest order. “By all accounts, Kidd was an excellent employee, consistently performed at a high level, and had an unblemished record.”
Greer-Ellis also speculated that Black may have wanted to get rid of Kidd because she “could have been easily the next person in line to be able to move the agency forward.”
“He wanted that executive director position so bad,” she said.
Kidd alleges in her lawsuit that in January of 2019, she became paralyzed due to a rare disorder and took a medical leave of absence from the department. “Black indicated that Plaintiff was not wanted at the agency because of her disability,” her complaint alleges.
When Kidd returned from medical leave in May of 2019, she alleges Black became more hostile towards her, eventually moving her from her post as deputy administrator in the state office to the Hinds County DHS office — an effective demotion. It was supposed to be temporary, but when current MDHS Director Bob Anderson became director in March of 2020, Kidd was still stationed there. Anderson decided to eliminate her position, forcing her to retire or be terminated in April of 2020. Black left the agency shortly after, starting his new job at Medicaid in June of 2020 in a lower position than he held at MDHS.
Kidd also alleges Black excluded her from meetings and generally ostracized her from the rest of the executive staff.
Black explained that Kidd was close to Davis, which is why he was keeping Kidd at bay during the internal investigation into their boss.
“We kept that investigation very close so we could make sure that we had an opportunity to finish that investigation and get everything reported with sufficient evidence without John finding out about it,” Black said in his deposition.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
UMMC hospital madison county
The University of Mississippi Medical Center has acquired Canton-based Merit Health Madison and is preparing to move a pediatric clinic to Madison, continuing a trend of moving services to Jackson’s suburbs.
The 67-bed hospital, now called UMMC Madison, will provide a wide range of community hospital services, including emergency services, medical-surgical care, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, general surgery and radiology services. It also will serve as a training site for medical students, and it plans to offer OB-GYN care in the future.
“As Mississippi’s only academic medical center, we must continue to be focused on our three-part mission to educate the next generation of health care providers, conduct impactful research and deliver accessible high-quality health care,” Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC’s vice chancellor of health affairs, said in a statement. “Every decision we make is rooted in our mission.”
The new facility will help address space constraints at the medical center’s main campus in Jackson by freeing up hospital beds, imaging services and operating areas, said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for health affairs.
UMMC physicians have performed surgeries and other procedures at the hospital in Madison since 2019. UMMC became the full owner of the hospital May 1 after purchasing it from Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems.
The Batson Kids Clinic, which offers pediatric primary care, will move to the former Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine location in Madison. This space will allow the medical center to offer pediatric primary care and specialty services and resolve space issues that prevent the clinic from adding new providers, according to Institutions of Higher Learning board minutes.
A UMMC spokesperson did not respond to questions about the services that will be offered at the clinic or when it will begin accepting patients.
The Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine, a pediatric subspecialty clinic, closed last year as a result of a settlement in a seven-year legal battle between the clinic and UMMC in a federal trade secrets lawsuit.
The changes come after the opening of UMMC’s Colony Park South clinic in Ridgeland in February. The clinic offers a range of specialty outpatient services, including surgical services. Another Ridgeland UMMC clinic, Colony Park North, will open in 2026.
The expansion of UMMC clinical services to Madison County has been criticized by state lawmakers and Jackson city leaders. The medical center does not need state approval to open new educational facilities. Critics say UMMC has used this exemption to locate facilities in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods outside Jackson while reducing services in the city.
UMMC did not respond to a request for comment about its movement of services to Madison County.
UMMC began removing clinical services this year from Jackson Medical Mall, which is in a majority-Black neighborhood with a high poverty rate. The medical center plans to reduce its square footage at the mall by about 75% in the next year.
The movement of health care services from Jackson to the suburbs is a “very troubling trend” that will make it more difficult for Jackson residents to access care, Democratic state Sen. John Horhn, who will become Jackson’s mayor July 1, previously told Mississippi Today.
Lawmakers sought to rein in UMMC’s expansion outside Jackson this year by passing a bill that would require the medical center to receive state approval before opening new educational medical facilities in areas other than the vicinity of its main campus and Jackson Medical Mall. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the legislation, saying he opposed an unrelated provision in the bill.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post UMMC hospital madison county appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The article presents a primarily factual report on UMMC’s expansion into Madison County, outlining the medical center’s services and strategic decisions while including critiques from Democratic leaders and local officials about the suburban shift. The inclusion of concerns over equity and access—highlighting that the expansion is occurring in wealthier, whiter suburbs at the expense of services in majority-Black, poorer neighborhoods—leans the piece toward a center-left perspective, emphasizing social justice and community impact. However, the article maintains a measured tone by presenting statements from UMMC representatives and government officials without overt editorializing, thus keeping the overall coverage grounded in balanced reporting with a slight progressive framing.
Mississippi Today
Rita Brent, Q Parker headline ‘Medgar at 100’ Concert
Nationally known comedian Rita Brent will host the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s “Medgar at 100” Concert on June 28.
Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 14, and can be ordered on the institute’s website.
The concert will take place at the Jackson Convention Complex and is the capstone event of the “Medgar at 100” Celebration. Organizers are calling the event “a cultural tribute and concert honoring the enduring legacy of Medgar Wiley Evers.”
“My father believed in the power of people coming together — not just in protest, but in joy and purpose, and my mother and father loved music,” said Reena Evers-Everette, executive director of the institute. “This evening is about honoring his legacy with soul, celebration, and a shared commitment to carry his work forward. Through music and unity, we are creating space for remembrance, resilience, and the rising voices of a new generation.”
In addition to Brent, other featured performers include: actress, comedian and singer Tisha Campbell; soul R&B powerhouse Leela James; and Grammy award-winning artist, actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist Q Parker and Friends.
Organizers said the concert is also “a call to action — a gathering rooted in remembrance, resistance, and renewal.”
Proceeds from the event will go to support the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute’s mission to “advance civic engagement, develop youth leadership, and continue the fight for justice in Mississippi and beyond.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Rita Brent, Q Parker headline 'Medgar at 100' Concert appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
This article presents a straightforward, factual report on the upcoming “Medgar at 100” concert honoring civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Evers. The tone is respectful and celebratory, focusing on the event’s cultural and community significance without expressing a political stance or ideological bias. It quotes organizers and highlights performers while emphasizing themes of remembrance, unity, and justice. The coverage remains neutral by reporting the event details and mission of the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute without editorializing or promoting a specific political viewpoint. Overall, it maintains balanced and informative reporting.
Mississippi Today
Future uncertain for residents of abandoned south Jackson apartment complex
Residents at Chapel Ridge Apartments in Jackson are left wondering what to do next after months dealing with trash pileups, property theft and the possibility of water shutoffs due to the property owner skipping out on the bill.
On Sunday, Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley, city attorney Drew Martin and code enforcement officers discussed next steps for the complex, which, since April 30, has been without a property manager.
“How are you all cracking down on other possible fraudulent property managers around Jackson?” one woman asked Martin.
“ We don’t know they’re there until we know they’re there, and I know that’s a terrible answer, but I don’t personally have another one I’m aware of right now,” Martin said. “These individuals don’t seem to have owned another apartment complex in the Metro Jackson area, despite owning a whole bunch nationwide.”
Back in April, a letter was left on the door of the leasing office advising residents to not make rental payments until a new property manager arrives. The previous property managers are Lynd Management Group, a company based in San Antonio, Texas.
The complex has been under increased scrutiny after Chapel Ridge Apartments lost its solid waste contract mid-March due to months of nonpayment. The removal of dumpsters led to a portion of the parking lot turning into a dumping site, an influx of rodents and gnats, and an investigation by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Local leaders pitched in to help remedy the situation, and in May, Waste Management provided two dumpsters for the complex.
However, the problems persisted. In May, JXN Water released the names of 15 apartment complexes that owe more than $100,000 in unpaid water fees. Chapel Ridge was on the list. JXN Water spokesperson Aisha Carson said via email that they are “pursuing legal options to address these large-scale delinquencies across several properties.”
“While no shutoffs are imminent at this time, we are evaluating each case based on legal feasibility and the need to balance enforcement with tenant protections. Our focus is on transparency and accountability, not disruption—but we will act when needed to ensure the integrity of the system,” Carson said.
And earlier this week, Chapel Ridge Apartments was declared a public nuisance. Martin said this gives the city of Jackson “the authority to come in, mow the grass and board up any of the units where people aren’t living.”
Martin said the situation is complicated, because the complex is owned by Chapel Ridge Apartments LLC. The limited liability corporation is owned by CRBM Realty Inc. and Crown Capital Holdings LLC, which are ultimately owned by Moshe “Mark” Silber. In April, Silber was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud affecting a financial institution. Earlier this month, both companies filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey.
Now, Martin said the main goal is to find someone who can manage the property.
“Somebody’s got to be able to collect rent from you,” Martin said. “They got to be able to pay the water. They got to be able to pay the garbage. They got to be able to pay for the lights to be on. They got to maintain the property, so that’s our goal is to put that in place.”
Chapel Ridge offers a rent scale based on household income. Those earning under 50% of the area median income — between $21,800 and $36,150 depending on household size — for example, pay $480 for a two-bedroom and $539 for a three-bedroom unit. Rent increases between $20 and $40 for those earning under 60% of the area median income.
Valarie Banks said that when she moved into Chapel Ridge nearly 13 years ago, it was a great community. The disabled mother and grandmother moved from West Jackson to the complex because it was neatly kept and quiet.
“It was beautiful. I saw a lot of kids out playing. There were people that were engaging you when you came out. They were eager to help,” Banks said. “ I hope that they could bring this place back to the way it once was.”
But after months of uncertainty, Banks is preparing to move. She said she’s not the only one.
“I have somewhere to go, but I’m just trying to get my money together so I can be able to handle the deposits and the bills that come after you move,” she said. “All of my doctors are around here close to me. In 12 years, I made this place home for me. … I’ve been stacking my rent, but it’s still not enough if I want to move this month.”
While she said she’s holding onto her rent payments for the time being, she realizes that many of her fellow residents may not be as lucky. Without someone to maintain the apartments, some residents are finding themselves without basic amenities.
“Some people are in dire straits, because they don’t have a stove or a fridge or the air conditioner,” she said. “Their stove went out, or the fridge went out, or they stole the air conditioner while you’re in the apartment.”
Banks isn’t the only one who is formulating a plan to leave. One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she’s been trying to save money to move, but she already has $354 wrapped up in a money order that she’s unable to pass off for her rent, due to the property manager’s recent departure.
“It really feels like an abandonment and just stressful to live where I’m living at right now. This just doesn’t happen. It just feels stressful. It doesn’t feel good at all,” she said.
She’s trying to remain optimistic, but as each day passes without someone to maintain the property, she’s losing hope.
“ I just hope that things get better some day, somehow, hopefully, because if not, more than likely I’m going to have to leave because I can only take so much,” she said. “I can’t continue to deal with this situation of hoping and wishing somebody comes, and they don’t.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The post Future uncertain for residents of abandoned south Jackson apartment complex appeared first on mississippitoday.org
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This article from *Mississippi Today* primarily focuses on the struggles of low-income residents at Chapel Ridge Apartments, emphasizing the human impact of property mismanagement, regulatory gaps, and systemic neglect. The piece maintains a factual tone, but it centers the voices of vulnerable tenants and local officials seeking accountability—hallmarks of a center-left perspective. While it does not overtly advocate for policy change, the narrative framing highlights social injustice and institutional failures, subtly aligning with progressive concerns about housing equity and corporate responsibility.
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