Auditor Shad White’s report provides update on efforts to collect misspent welfare funds
By Simeon Gates | Originally published by Mississippi Today
State Auditor Shad White reported that over the last year, the state has recouped just $18,000 in additional welfare funds that now-disgraced officials misspent in a scandal that rocked the Mississippi Department of Human Services in 2020, bringing the total recovered funds to $1.5 million.
That represents less than 2% of the $96.3 million in federal public assistance funds White says officials frittered away from 2016 to 2020.
White gave this update in his July 31 Audit Exceptions Report, which details cases in which public funds have been misappropriated or spent incorrectly and must be repaid. It is published annually by state law.
White stressed in the latest report that his office identifies misspent funds, but the authority to collect those public monies rests with the office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch. A spokesperson says the AG’s office has been active and efficient in collecting misspent funds and prosecuting cases of public corruption.
White and Fitch, both statewide Republican officials, have been engaged in a long-running feud and both could be pursuing the office of governor in 2027. Fitch has announced her candidacy and political observers believe it is likely White also will run for the state’s top post.
In a summary of the 43-page report, White says the state still has a long way to go in recovering the funds misspent in the Mississippi welfare scandal.
The scandal received nationwide attention beginning in early 2020 and has resulted in seven convictions for various federal and state crimes related to the misspending of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds.
According to White’s office, $1.5 million of the $96.3 million in misspent TANF funds have been recovered in total, including the $18,000 recovered during the past fiscal year.
Separately, the auditor’s office issued 87 demands adding up to $10.9 million in 46 cases in fiscal year 2026. Almost $1.1 million of that has been recovered or returned to the appropriate public entity.
The report states that since White became state auditor in 2018, and excluding the MDHS case, his office has issued demands in 103 cases totaling $15.8 million that has yet to be paid in full. Of those cases, White said his office referred 95 to the attorney general office to initiate litigation. The report states the attorney general’s office has only acted on eight of them.
“I do not have the power to prosecute our demands in court,” White said in the report’s summary. “A prosecutor must do that.”
White and Fitch were previously involved in a lawsuit over whether the attorney general or state auditor had the authority to sue on the state’s behalf to recover misspent taxpayer funds. In June, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the power belonged to the attorney general.
Michelle Williams, chief of staff for Fitch, emailed a statement detailing the work of the attorney general. According to the statement, the auditor’s office referred 22 demand letters to the AG last year, she said. Of those, six were closed and 15 have corresponding criminal cases pending.
In the first half of 2026, she said the AG closed one case, had five pending cases and one active civil matter.
On top of that, Williams said that in June the AG’s office indicted people in fraud cases totaling $12 million and has recovered over $101 million from fraud cases over Fitch’s entire tenure.
“We will continue to litigate and prosecute these and all of our cases for the best interests of Mississippi,” Williams said.
The exceptions report also details that the state auditor issued over $7.4 million in demands to Management & Training Corporation, a prison staffing contractor, for understaffing at East Mississippi Correctional Facility, Marshall County Correctional Facility and Wilkinson Correctional Facility. The company was paid as if the company provided adequate staffing when it did not, the report said. It has repaid about $5.9 million.
“The office of the state Auditor continues to serve as a watchdog organization to ensure that tax dollars are protected, and we pledge to perform our jobs with integrity, honesty, and a commitment to excellence,” White wrote in the report.
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
