JACKSON, Miss. — The chief executive officer of a biotech company with ties to the largest public corruption case in Mississippi history pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of wire fraud for improperly using welfare funds intended to develop a concussion drug.
Jacob VanLandingham entered the plea at a hearing in Jackson before U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves, according to court records. A sentencing date was not immediately set. Possible penalties include up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A lawsuit filed by the state Department of Human Services alleges that $2.1 million of welfare money paid for stock in VanLandingham’s Florida-based companies, Prevacus and PreSolMD, for Nancy New and her son, Zachary New, who ran nonprofit groups that received welfare money from Human Services.
Prosecutors said the Mississippi Community Education Center, which was run by the News, provided about $1.9 million, including federal money from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, to Prevacus. The money was purportedly for the development of a pharmaceutical concussion treatment.