Mississippi Today
Neuroscientist becomes the seventh person to plead guilty in welfare scandal
Nearly five years after officials first named his company in the “largest public embezzlement case in state history,” Florida neuroscientist Jacob Vanlandingham has pleaded guilty to one federal charge of wire fraud.
Vanlandingham is the latest defendant to admit to some role in the Mississippi welfare scandal, which ensnared his former business partner, retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre. The two worked together, a civil lawsuit by the Mississippi Department of Human Services alleges, to channel funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to their pharmaceutical startup project called Prevacus.
But acquiring $1.9 million in federal welfare funds from the poorest state in the nation to develop a drug to treat concussions — an allegedly illegal use of the funds — was not Vanlandingham’s crime. Instead, he pleaded guilty to using some of the funds for himself, including for “gambling and paying off personal debts,” according to a federal court file.
Reached Wednesday, Vanlandingham said he didn’t want his narrow guilty plea to be misconstrued as an admission of stealing welfare money.
“The case was very complicated but it really boiled down to one count of wire fraud, not any finding of welfare fraud,” said Vanlandingham’s Florida attorney Thomas Findley.
Both Favre and Vanlandingham have denied the allegations in the ongoing civil suit and Favre has not been charged with a crime. Vanlandingham founded Prevacus in 2012 and Favre was one of its largest investors and promoters. The startup is defunct today after selling the idea of its concussion drug to another company.
In January of 2019, Prevacus entered a $1.7 million contract with Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit that the state welfare agency, Mississippi Department of Human Services, had entrusted to spend millions of federal grant funds.
“The purpose of the scheme … was for Vanlandingham to unlawfully enrich himself by making materially false and fraudulent representations that he would use certain funds, including funds obtained from MDHS through MCEC, to develop a pharmaceutical treatment for concussions,” reads the charge.
Vanlandingham pleaded guilty to a bill of information, a charging document that the government uses when a defendant agrees to waive a formal indictment, and was released on a $10,000 bond on Wednesday. The charge related to a $400,000 wire transfer from Mississippi Community Education Center to Prevacus on July 16, 2019, which occurred about a month after the state auditor’s investigation began.
The single count of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Vanlandingham’s sentencing, along with the sentencings of six others who have pleaded guilty, has not been scheduled as each defendant continues to cooperate with federal investigators as part of their pleas.
The federal case against Vanlandingham stems from the government’s probe, beginning in 2020, into the misspending or theft of federal public assistance funds. The federal investigation did not begin until State Auditor Shad White, who originally investigated a tip brought forward by an agency employee to then-Gov. Phil Bryant, made six arrests and then turned the case over to federal authorities in February of 2020. Auditors have estimated between $77 million and $98 million was misspent or not properly documented.
“I applaud federal prosecutors for their continued work on this case,” White said in a press release Wednesday. “I’m grateful for my team at the Auditor’s office and the FBI for digging up the facts related to this case. We will continue to assist federal prosecutors as needed going forward.”
The welfare agency director John Davis and nonprofit founder Nancy New both pleaded guilty within the scheme in 2022 but have not been sentenced. An additional four defendants who pleaded to state or federal charges between 2020 and 2023. Each defendant has agreed to aid federal authorities in their ongoing investigation. The trial for an eighth defendant, former professional wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr., is scheduled for January.
The bill of information against Vanlandingham was signed by Todd Gee, the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Mississippi who left the U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section to fill the Jackson-based appointment.
But Vanlandingham’s bill of information was signed by two other senior officials from the U.S. Department of Justice — Glenn S. Leon, the chief of the DOJ’s Fraud Section, and Margaret A. Moeser, the chief of the DOJ’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section — signaling Washington’s role in the ongoing investigation.
Many of the crimes associated with the welfare scandal come with a five year statute of limitations.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
AT&T, union reach deal ending strike
AT&T workers are back on the job today after the company reached a tentative agreement with the Communications Workers of America to end a month-long strike in the Southeast.
The new deal includes a 19.33% pay increase for all workers, and more affordable healthcare premiums.
Wire technicians and utility operations employes get an extra 3% pay increase.
In a statement, CWA president Claude Cummings Jr. praised the solidarity of the striking workers.
“I believe in the power of unity, and the unity our members and retirees have shown during these contract negotiations has been outstanding and gave our bargaining teams the backing they needed to deliver strong contracts,” he said.
CWA district president Jermaine Travis told Mississippi Today that he and his coworkers are happy to be back at work.
“It’s been a long month, so everybody is excited to get back to work and get back to taking care of business,” he said.
Travis also noted the significance of the strike, the longest telecommunications strike in the Southeast.
“I think we’re gonna look back at this strike, at this moment in history, and see it was really important for workers to stand up for the rights and force companies to do right by them, so I think we did a good thing,” he said.
AT&T has also reached a tentative agreement with the CWA in the West.
“As we’ve said since day 1, our goal has been to reach fair agreements that recognize the hard work our employees do to serve our customers with competitive market-based pay and benefits that are among the best in the nation — and that’s exactly what was accomplished,” AT&T said in a released statement. “These agreements also support our competitive position in the broadband industry where we can grow and win against our mostly non-union competitors.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1925
Sept. 16, 1925
“The King of the Blues” was born Riley B. King on a plantation near Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers.
While singing in the church choir, he watched the pastor playing a Sears Roebuck guitar and told the preacher he wanted to learn how to play. By age 12, he had his own guitar and began listening to the blues on the radio. After playing in churches, he went to Memphis to pursue a music career in 1948, playing on the radio and working as a deejay who was known as “Blues Boy” and eventually “B.B.”
Within a year, B.B. King was recording songs, many of them produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. In 1952, “3 O’Clock Blues” became a hit, and dozens followed.
While others sought to bring change through the courts, King did it through music. The songs that he and other blues artists created drew many listeners across racial lines. One of the biggest fans walked into the studio one day and called him “sir.” His name? Elvis Presley, whose first big hit was the blues song, “That’s All Right, Mama.”
King explained that music was like water — something “for every living person and every living thing.” His smash hit, “The Thrill Is Gone,” made him an international star and led to collaborations with some of the world’s greatest artists.
He survived a fire that almost burned up his beloved guitar, “Lucille,” and won 18 Grammys as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Both Time and Rolling Stone magazines ranked him as one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
In 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the greatest civilian honor. Two years later, his hometown of Indianola honored him by opening the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. After he died in 2015, thousands flocked to the Mississippi Delta for the wake and funeral.
“Hands that once picked cotton,” the preacher told the crowd, “would someday pick guitar strings on a national and international stage.” He performed till the end, telling Rolling Stone in 2013 that he had only missed 18 days of performing in 65 years. He died two years later at 89 after battling diabetes for decades.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Sen. David Blount discusses tax cuts, retirement system, mobile sports betting
State Sen. David Blount sits down with Mississippi Today’s Bobby Harrison and Adam Ganucheau to discuss the push for income tax elimination and how that would affect the state’s budget. He also talks about needed funding for the state’s troubled retirement system and whether Mississippi will soon adopt mobile sports betting.
READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs
The post Podcast: Sen. David Blount discusses tax cuts, retirement system, mobile sports betting appeared first on Mississippi Today.
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