JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Social Services is hiring another law firm to try to recover millions of welfare dollars that were misspent in the state’s biggest public corruption case. for decades.
The state staff board on Thursday approved a contract for the department to hire Jones Walker, which has about 370 attorneys in multiple states, the department said in a news release.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, a Republican, also approved the contract for civil litigation.
The move comes weeks after Department of Human Services leaders opted not to renew a contract with Jackson’s Brad Pigott, a private-practice attorney who had served as the U.S. attorney for South Mississippi when Democrat Bill Clinton was president.
In May, Pigott filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Department of Human Services against retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and three former professional wrestlers along with several other individuals and companies in an attempt to recover millions of dollars. poorly spent welfare funds that were intended to help some of the poorest people in the United States
The lawsuit said the defendants had “wasted” more than $20 million from the anti-poverty program of temporary assistance to needy families.
Critics called the department’s decision not to renew Pigott’s contract a politically motivated firing of a connected Democrat who sought information on people close to Republicans.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Thursday that the Jones Walker firm had “the full-service capabilities to handle the sheer magnitude of this case.”
“This work has only just begun, and it may take years – but we will follow the facts wherever they go and pursue them for as long as it takes,” Reeves said.
Pigott’s one-year contract with the Department of Human Services expired days after he filed a subpoena for records at the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation.
Pigott was looking for records related to $5 million in welfare the college foundation received to build a volleyball facility, and included communications between the foundation and former Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.
In July, Democratic U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Bryant in the welfare fraud case. Thompson’s request came after a defendant in the case said in a July 11 court document that she directed $1.1 million in welfare to Favre under Bryant’s direction. Bryant denied the charges.
The allegation was made by Nancy New, who pleaded guilty in April along with her son, Zachary New, to charges of embezzlement of public funds. The mother and son, who ran a nonprofit group and education business in Mississippi, agreed to testify against others. Criminal charges are pending against others, including a former director of the Department of Human Services who was named by Bryant.
Favre, who lives in Mississippi, was not charged with any foul play and returned the money. He said he did not know the money he was receiving came from social funds and denied the auditor’s claims that he had been paid for events he did not attend.
Mississippi Auditor Shad White, a Republican, said the welfare fraud uncovered by his office amounts to the state’s biggest public corruption case in two decades. He said on July 23 on Twitter: “Firing Pigott is a mistake. From the outset of this case, I said it was important that a bipartisan team look into this case.
Emily Wagster Pettus, Associated Press