What Happened to the State of Mississippi?

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Ted Bibiasi: The state of Mississippi had allowed tens of millions of dollars from a federal program to be used in ways that did little to nothing to help people in poverty. He says the money was going to private nonprofits who then had the ability to spend the money but there was no reporting back on how they were spending it. "This corruption was really system wide, and I think investigators are looking to see how far it goes," he says.

An extraordinary case of fraud is unfolding in Mississippi, where a chummy cadre of nonprofit leaders, elected officials, and professional athletes redirected tens of millions in welfare funds toward their own pet projects. Mississippi Today’s Anna Wolfe explains.

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh and Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey and Efim Shapiro, and hosted by Noel King.

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