Mississippi Today
State withheld ‘Backchannel’ texts from New defense teams for years, lawsuit alleges
At the time State Auditor Shad White announced arrests in what he called a historic public embezzlement bust, which involved officials funneling welfare funds to a pharmaceutical startup, White had information that Gov. Phil Bryant was a “key team member” in that company, a new lawsuit alleges.
In the four years since, the complaint from a defendant in the case alleges that White and the Mississippi Department of Human Services has “actively concealed Bryant’s role” in the scandal.
Investigators gathered text messages revealing that during Bryant’s last year in office, the governor consulted Jake Vanlandingham, the CEO of the experimental concussion drug firm called Prevacus, and former NFL quarterback Brett Favre while hundreds of thousands of federal welfare funds flowed to their project. Texts show Bryant, who as governor oversaw the welfare agency, then agreed to accept interest in the company after he left his post.
The texts, first publicly surfaced by Mississippi Today’s investigative series “The Backchannel,” would prove to be crucial evidence in both the ongoing criminal and civil investigations.
But officials withheld the relevant texts from Nancy New, who was charged with fraud for funneling the funds to Prevacus, for over two years, a new court filing alleges. New, who claims she was acting on the governor’s direction, didn’t even allegedly have access to the documents when she pleaded guilty to the state charges in April of 2022.
“Most damning perhaps, OSA (Office of the State Auditor) failed to produce Vanlandingham’s phone and text messages to Nancy New and Zach New in criminal discovery,” reads a new third-party complaint against Bryant from New’s son Jess New. “Instead, OSA withheld evidence from the News until long after a plea had been entered in state court.”
In response, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office said it would have been the responsibility of the prosecutor, in this case the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, which secured the initial indictments, to release discovery materials.
“The Auditor’s Office turned over all evidence to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office in a timely manner well before any guilty pleas were entered,” the auditor’s spokesperson Fletcher Freeman said in a statement. “This is a desperate attempt to try and discredit not only the State Auditor’s Office but also the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, which together stopped the largest public fraud scheme in Mississippi history.”
Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens similarly said in an email that his office has a legal duty to serve all criminal defendants with discovery. “Despite Mr. New’s claims, the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office did not deviate from its discovery obligations in this case, and all material was timely disclosed pursuant to Mississippi law. Any claim to the contrary is simply false,” he wrote on Wednesday.
Jess New, a Jackson attorney and director of the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board, is a defendant in the extensive civil litigation MDHS has filed against 47 people or companies in an attempt to recoup the misspent funds. MDHS’s complaint alleges Jess New received welfare funds as a contractor for his mom’s nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center and attempted to profit from personal interest in the pharmaceutical project. While his mother and brother Zach New have pleaded guilty to state charges, Jess New has not been charged criminally.
On Wednesday, Jess New requested the judge allow him to file a third-party complaint against Bryant, who is not a defendant of the civil suit. While other defendants have asked that Bryant be added to the suit, this is the first time a defendant has attempted to actually bring a complaint against Bryant.
“MDHS has labeled the use of welfare grants to fund Prevacus as ‘an illegal transaction,’ yet MDHS continues to refuse to include Bryant as a Defendant despite overwhelming evidence of Bryant’s principal role in the ‘illegal’ transaction,” reads Jess News’ complaint, filed by his attorney Allen Smith.
An attorney for Bryant, who has not been charged in the state or federal welfare scandal-related cases, did not respond to Mississippi Today’s request for comment on Wednesday.
A gag order in the case has prevented parties or their counsel from providing any information or clarification to the public. The complaint details Bryant’s entanglement with Prevacus starting with their introduction in late 2018 until the arrests in 2020, using much of the same written communication included in countless news reports and court filings.
What’s unique about Jess New’s filing this week is how it describes the events leading up to the arrests and the flow of information afterwards — raising questions about exactly what law enforcement knew when.
White began quietly investigating the welfare agency in mid-2019 when he learned about suspicious payments by then-MDHS Director John Davis to professional wrestling brothers Brett and Teddy DiBiase.
Investigators eventually unearthed checks from New’s nonprofit to a concussion drug firm called Prevacus and subpoenaed Vanlandingham for documents in late December of 2019.
“On January 23, 2020, Vanlandingham responded by forwarding emails and documents to OSA that expressly mention Bryant and indicate his involvement with Prevacus since 2018,” Jess New’s complaint reads.
The email was dated Dec. 29, 2018 — just three days after Bryant attended a dinner for Prevacus and four days before Davis and New met with Vanlandingham and Favre “at Bryant’s direction,” the lawsuit alleges, to commit the funding.
“Governor Bryant is very supportive of future relations including drug clinical trials and manufacturing in the State of Mississippi,” Vanlandingham’s email reads. “I would like nothing more than to work with you all and Brett to bring benefit to Southern Miss University as well.”
The lawsuit alleges Vanlandingham attached a document listing “key” Prevacus “team members,” which included Bryant. In another email he produced to the auditor’s investigator, Vanlandingham told his investors that a “great deal of this has been funded with the help of folks in Mississippi including the Governor.”
“Bryant is a necessary party to this lawsuit, but the State of Mississippi, through MDHS and OSA, have actively concealed Bryant’s role. Bryant’s joinder as a Defendant is essential to Jess New’s ability to adequately defend himself,” Jess New’s complaint reads. “MDHS seeks to improperly blame Jess New for grant funds that Bryant directed to Prevacus. Jess New is entitled to show the jury that Bryant directed these grant funds to Prevacus while Governor in order to benefit himself, personally, and his business associates.”
In mid-January of 2020, while Vanlandingham was dealing with the subpoena from the auditor’s office, he was simultaneously making arrangements with Bryant to give him “a company package for all your help.” Bryant had just left office; texts indicate he was waiting until that date to enter into business with Prevacus. Shortly after, Bryant joined a new consulting firm and by Feb. 4, 2020, he was confirming a meeting date and location with Vanlandingham.
The same day, a Hinds County grand jury handed down indictments against the welfare officials. Equipped with at least some documents indicating Prevacus’ connection to welfare funds involved Bryant, White made his arrests the next day.
In response to the arrests, then-U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst’s office issued a release revealing that White had not included the FBI in his investigation, despite the scheme involving federal funds. White, a Republican, had previously worked on Bryant’s gubernatorial campaign and was appointed to his position by Bryant to fill a vacancy. White explained that he went to the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office, run by a Democrat, to avoid the appearance of political influence and for the ability to act quickly compared to the federal authorities.
But the arrests also resulted in another thing: Bryant ending talks with the company at the center of the scandal, texts show.
When news broke of the arrests, Bryant texted Vanlandingham to ask about the charges. The scientist told the former governor he’d been subpoenaed and “just gave them everything.”
“Not good…” Bryant wrote.
Five days later, White visited the local FBI offices to turn over his investigative file. Within hours, he also publicly named Bryant as the whistleblower of the case. To explain, White said that Bryant had relayed the initial intel about suspected fraud — the small tip regarding Davis and the wrestlers — in mid-2019.
The same morning, Bryant texted Vanlandingham, “I was unaware your company had ever received any TANIF funds. If some received anything of benefit personally then Legal issues certainly exists. I can have no further contact with your company. It is unfortunate to find ourselves at this point . I was hoping we could have somehow helped those who suffer from Brain Injuries. This has put that that hope on the sidelines.”
White’s office retrieved this and other texts from Vanlandingham’s phone after executing a search warrant on his Florida home on Feb. 19, 2020.
Defense attorneys for the News wouldn’t see these texts, according to the latest lawsuit, until Mississippi Today published them more than two years later.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Mississippi Today’s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi
High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader support; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.
In a time when trusted journalists and media sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Here at Mississippi Today we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories free for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.
Why NewsMatch and Why Now?
This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special opportunity to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in funding, bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.
Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday life—whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help Mississippians understand and engage with what’s happening around them.
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We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!
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This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Hinds County loses fight over control of jail
The Hinds County sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.
Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, including a failure to protect detainees from harm.
However, the appeals court called the new injunction “overly broad” in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.
The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be removed.
The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as “federal intrusion into RDC’s budget” – especially if the receivership has no end date.
Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion.
In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which holds people facing trial.
“But the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,” the appeals court wrote.
This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022.
The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the solutions they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in Jackson.
The county had a chance to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the death of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old infrastructure and use of force.
Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.
But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff.
The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference.
Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
2 out of 5 child care teachers make so little they need public assistance tosupport their families
This story about child care wages was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit,
independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger’s early childhood newsletter.
Caring for children during their first few years is a complex and critical job: A child’s
brain develops more in the first five years than at any other point in life. Yet in America,
individuals engaged in this crucial role are paid less than animal caretakers and
dressing room attendants.
That’s a major finding of one of two new reports on the dismal treatment of child care
workers. Together, the reports offer a distressing picture of how child care staff are
faring economically, including the troubling changes low wages have caused to the
workforce.
Early childhood workers nationally earn a median wage of $13.07 per hour, resulting in
poverty-level earnings for 13 percent of such educators, according to the first report, the
Early Childhood Workforce Index 2024. Released earlier this month by the Center for
the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, the annual
report also found:
? 43 percent of families of early educators rely on public assistance like
food stamps and Medicaid.
? Pay inequity exists within these low wages: Black early childhood
educators earn about $8,000 less per year than their white peers. The
same pay gap exists between early educators who work with infants and
toddlers and those who work with preschoolers, who have more
opportunities to work in school districts that pay higher wages.
? Wages for early educators are rising more slowly than wages in other
industries, including fast food and retail.
In part due to these conditions, the industry is losing some of its highest-educated
workers, according to a second new report, by Chris M. Herbst, a professor at Arizona
State University’s School of Public Affairs. That study compares the pay of child care
workers with that of workers in other lower-income professions, including cooks and
retail workers; it finds child care workers are the tenth lowest-paid occupation out of
around 750 in the economy. The report also looks at the ‘relative quality’ of child care
staff, as defined by math and literacy scores and education level. Higher-educated
workers, Herbst suggests, are being siphoned off by higher-paying jobs.
That’s led to a “bit of a death spiral” in terms of how child care work is perceived, and
contributes to the persistent low wages, he said in an interview. Some additional
findings from Herbst’s study:
? Higher-educated women increasingly find employment in the child care
industry to be less attractive. The share of workers in the child care
industry with a bachelor’s degree barely budged over the past few
decades, increasing by only 0.3 percent. In contrast, the share of those in
the industry who have 12 years of schooling but no high school degree,
quadrupled.
? Median numeracy and literacy scores for female child care workers
(who are the majority of the industry staff) fall at the 35 th and 36 th
percentiles respectively, compared to all female workers. Improving these
scores is important, Herbst says, considering the importance of education
in the early years, when children experience rapid brain development.
This doesn’t mean child care staff with lower education levels can’t be good early
educators. Patience, communication skills and a commitment to working with young
children also matter greatly, Herbst writes. However, higher education levels may mean
staff have a stronger background not only in English and math but also in topics like
behavior modification and special education, which are sometimes left out of
certification programs for child care teachers.
You can read Herbst’s full report here, and the 2024 workforce index here.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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