Mississippi Swindle

September 9, 2024
Mississippi state auditor White delivers a gripping if overripe look at an ongoing fraud case. In 2019, Mississippi governor Phil Bryant informed White that the head of a state agency “might be receiving a kickback.” From there, White unraveled a scheme originating with heiress and influential political donor Nancy New, who managed a nonprofit called the Mississippi Community Education Center. New’s foundation received funding from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program under the pretense that she and her son would distribute it to Mississippi’s poorest residents. Instead, White alleges, she used the money—nearly $100 million—to make personal purchases and curry favor with politicians and celebrities across the state, including NFL star Brett Favre, for whom she promised to build a volleyball stadium at his alma mater. The case’s particulars are infuriating, and White smoothly integrates esoteric accounting details into a narrative paced like a thriller. Unfortunately, his inflated rhetoric and chest-puffing heroism are likely to rub readers the wrong way. It’s a mixed bag. Agent: Margaret Danko, Paper Over Board.

August 15, 2024
How a Mississippi state auditor and a small team of investigators uncovered a scandal that made national headlines and cast a beloved sports hero as a villain. In 2019 White first learned from Governor Phil Bryant about a kickback scheme involving John Davis, the director of the Mississippi Department of Health Services. What he did not know was that his investigations would bring to light a $100 million welfare fraud scheme that involved misuse of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds in that poverty-stricken state. For the next two years and often at great personal cost, White and his colleagues followed a money trail through a maze of government corruption that led to a host of shady characters. One, a charismatic Toshiba copier salesman and drug addict, convinced Davis to fund his various companies with TANF dollars for work that had nothing to do with serving low-income families. Another, an ex-teacher turned campaign donor, misused a nonprofit community education organization to collect millions in TANF funds, which she used in part to fund a wealthy lifestyle. Still another was football legend Brett Favre, who used his own nonprofit to launder TANF money he then donated to his alma mater, the University of South Mississippi. White's scrupulous attention to the details of this case is as admirable as his goal of demonstrating that some public servants can and will stand up to powerful forces bent on abusing their power. In his words, "returning the public's faith in the idea that the entire edifice of American life operates for their general welfare...is a twenty-first-century requirement for a healthy republic." Illuminating and disturbing.

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