Madison County was scammed out of $2.7 million recently. Madison County Board of Supervisors President Gerald Steen announced the fraud after an emergency meeting of the Board was held in executive session this morning.
Mr. Steen said $2.7 was transferred to what was thought to be a current vendor. However, the funds went somewhere else. Madison County officials learned of the fraud on March 19 and immediately notified law enforcement, including state and federal authorities. Mr. Steen said "additional safety measures have been put in place."
Sheriff Randy Tucker said he is "confident the county can recover some of those funds."
No action was taken in executive session this morning.
Kingfish note: Uh-huh. That was the press release, now for the story.
A person purporting to be Jay Hemphill of Hemphill Construction Company emailed the purchasing clerk for Madison County. The clerk forwarded the email to County Comptroller Na'Son White. The county has a contract with Hemphill Construction to build Reunion Parkway Phase III. However, Jay Hemphill has been deceased for over 30 years and no Hemphill has been at the company in over 40 years.
The email stated what was owed and directed the county to send payments to a different bank account. The email contained multiple misspellings. The comptroller called to confirm and spoke to a man with a thick Middle-Eastern accent in Germany. (Yes, your reading comprehension is working just fine.).
"Jay" sent legitimate Hemphill invoices and used an email address that used a ".com" address instead of ".us."
The county sent the following payments:
2-21-24: $128,990
3-13-24: $1,073,870
3-15-24: $1,538,383
Total: $2,741,244
White tried to send another payment to "Jay" on March 11 but Renasant Bank returned the payment. She notified "Jay" of the return. "Jay" sent her new payment instructions. White graciously sent the March 15 payment ($1,583,383).
The scam was detected when Hemphill Construction called ton enquire about its payment. One can imagine what took place on the phone. The County Comptroller claims she paid Hemphill. Hemphill says no, you never paid us. The fraud was discovered but not before Madison County lost $2.7 million.
The Attorney General, State Auditor, FBI, and Secret Service are assisting with the investigation.
The Board did not fire the comptroller nor the purchasing clerk today.
Insurance will probably not cover the fraud.