An approximately $3,648,557.60 civil demand has been served to former Deputy Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (DHS) Jacob Black by the Officer of State Auditor Shad White.
The demand requires Black to repay misspent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) money after audits found that he assisted vendor NCC Ventures in violating procurement procedures.
NCC Ventures has also been sued by the State of Mississippi for work that was not completed in a separate demand issued by the Auditor.
In addition to aiding in the misspending of funds with NCC Ventures, Black has also been found to have assisted in the flow of welfare money to the Mississippi Community Education Center — a non-profit owned by Nancy and Zach New — and the Autism Center of North Mississippi.
The News were charged and pleaded guilty in late April to state and federal charges in connection to the misspending of millions of TANF funds, leading the case to be named the “largest public embezzlement case in state history.”
“My team will continue the work we started over two years ago on this case, and continue working with all our state and federal partners, to make sure this case is fully investigated, top to bottom,” Auditor White said.
Additional details are expected to be released in the coming months due to the ongoing gag order put in place for the case.
For more information about the DHS embezzlement case, continue reading below.
State Auditor issues demand letters tied to DHS embezzlement scandal
