August 2, 2022

Mississippi drops attorney investigating welfare abuse

JACKSON, Ms. (AP) — A former federal prosecutor investigating millions in missed welfare dollars in Mississippi has been dropped from the case by the state agency that hired him.

The state Department of Human Resources will find a new lawyer to replace Brad Pigott, a former US attorney recruited roughly a year ago to help recoup $77 million in welfare funds identified by the state auditor.

The decision to remove Pigott as lead attorney in the civil case was first reported by pigott/” class=””Mississippi Today, a nonprofit digital news operation that has been reported extensively on the welfare scandal. Pigott said he was fired about a week after he filed a subpoena for records from the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation.

Pigott was seeking records related to $5 million in welfare money the university foundation received to build a volleyball stadium, and included communications between the foundation and the former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant.

“All I did, and I believe all that caused me to be terminated from representing the department or having anything to do with the litigation, was to try to get the truth about all of that,” Pigott told Mississippi Today.

Shad White, Mississippi’s state auditor, has said the welfare fraud his office uncovered amounts to the state’s largest public corruption case in two decades. He criticized the decision to drop Pigott.

“Firing Pigott is a mistake,” White posted Saturday on Twitter. He added: “Pigott worked well with my office, communicating regularly with us about the status of the case and how we could share information.”

Robert Anderson, executive director of the Department of Human Services, said in a statement that Pigott’s contract expires at the end of July and won’t be renewed, news outlets reported.

In a statement, Anderson said Pigott

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Alex Murdaugh: Timeline of the South Carolina lawyer’s fall from grace

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Alex Murdaugh was once a well-established lawyer, millionaire, husband and father of two sons, Buster and Paul, living on an expansive property in South Carolina’s Low Country.

Despite his seemingly idyllic life, however, Murdaugh has had a dramatic fall from grace with so many twists and turns that he has left his now-national audience with whiplash.

Most recently, on July 14, a Colleton County Grand Jury indicted Murdaugh, 54, on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection to the June 7, 2021, deaths of his wife , Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22.

SOUTH CAROLINA LAWYER ALEX MURDAUGH CHARGED WITH MURDER OF WIFE AND SON

But prior to the bombshell murder charges, Murdaugh faced more than 80 other criminal charges through 16 state grand jury indictments for schemes to defraud a slew of victims, including the family of his dead housekeeper, a deaf quadriplegic man and a highway patrolman injured in the line of duty, of a total sum of nearly $8.5 million.

On July 14, A Colleton County Grand Jury indicted Murdaugh, 63, for two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection to the June 7, 2021, deaths of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22.

On July 14, A Colleton County Grand Jury indicted Murdaugh, 63, for two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime in connection to the June 7, 2021, deaths of his wife, Maggie, 52, and their son Paul, 22.

Here’s a timeline of events that led Murdaugh from his multi-million-dollar family farm to the Glenn Detention Center in Richland County, where he is currently detained.

2015

Buster’s classmate, 19-year-old Stephen Smith, is found dead in the middle of a road in rural Hampton County in what was officially ruled a hit-and-run, despite a state trooper’s incident report noting that there was “no evidence

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Alberta legal aid lawyers threaten job action over ‘perpetual funding neglect’

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Alberta lawyers who represent low income clients are threatening to walk off the job over what they call “perpetual funding neglect” of Legal Aid Alberta.

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On Saturday, three organizations representing criminal defense lawyers across Alberta issued an ultimatum to Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, months after Crown prosecutors made similar demands for additional funding

“The most minimal provision of legal aid services in Alberta is at a breaking point,” states the news release. “While we are prepared to collaborate with other stakeholders to solve this crisis, our cooperation is contingent upon a meaningful commitment by the government to adequate fund Legal Aid Alberta now.

“To ensure the government understands the immediacy of this crisis and the importance of this funding, our organizations are taking steps towards job action.”

The release is signed by the Edmonton-based Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association (CTLA), Calgary’s Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association and the Southern Alberta Defense Lawyers’ Association.

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Unlike the public defender system in the United States, defense lawyers in Alberta are not employed directly by the government. Rather, they are paid to represent low-income clients through Legal Aid Alberta, an arm’s length organization that receives funding from the federal and provincial governments, as well as from interest earned on their trust accounts.

In July, the

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