$200 Million for Parks And Swimming Pools: Joe B Kent Uncovers Another $150 Million Stolen From Memphis Taxpayer: How “Accelerate Memphis” Became the Blueprint for a Citywide Political Scam- Profiting off Poverty: Government Gangsters Part 8

By The Shelby County Observer Investigative Team — November 2, 2025

By The Shelby County Observer Investigative Team — November 2, 2025

The title of this series — Government Gangsters — is borrowed from FBI Director Kash Patel’s groundbreaking book, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy.

In that explosive work, Patel unmasks how bureaucrats cloak corruption in the language of compassion — preaching equity while practicing exploitation, and turning “public service” into a private racket. 

They are the masters of moral theater — the actors of virtue who stage righteousness by day and sign fraudulent checks by night.

Nowhere is this playbook performed with more brazen precision than in Memphis, Tennessee, where the $200 million “Accelerate Memphis” initiative — billed as a visionary investment in neighborhoods and parks — has revealed itself as a bond-funded mirage. 

Under the smiling banners of “revitalization” and “equity,” city officials raided the treasury in the name of progress, leaving citizens mowing their own parks while political insiders quietly feasted on taxpayer-backed “social bonds.”

This isn’t urban renewal — it’s organized looting disguised as development.

Accelerate Memphis stands as a textbook case of the new-age Government Gangsterism: a coordinated scheme where City Hall officials, consultants, and financiers profit off poverty while selling the public a slogan.

They didn’t accelerate Memphis — they accelerated the grift.

MEMPHIS, TN —- In 2021, city leaders promised to “Accelerate Memphis.”

They called it the dawn of a new civic renaissance — a $200 million investment in parks, pools, and playgrounds that would, in their words, “transform the city’s quality of life.” But four years later, that transformation looks more like an illusion.

As of June 2024, the City of Memphis reported to the Tennessee Comptroller that nearly $124 million of the $200 million in Accelerate Memphis funds had been spent. Yet when local watchdog and tax payer advocate, Joe B. Kent filed a public records request for a full accounting, the city’s own response documented only $47.9 million in identifiable projects, with a mere $17.2 million actually disbursed.

That’s a gap of more than $150 million in unexplained expenditures.

And in Memphis, that kind of math always hides a crime.

The Slogan Economy: How Memphis Monetized Hope

They call it “innovation,” but it’s really replication — the cloning of corruption through catchy slogans. After Accelerate Memphis came More for Memphis, and from the same architects at Seeding Success emerged their latest alledge scheme: First 8 — a program that promises to nurture children from birth to eight while quietly nurturing a new revenue stream for the same insiders. It’s the same hustle with a new halo, a marketing carousel spinning faster than accountability.

Tomorrow it’ll be Revive Memphis, The Sky’s the Limit Memphis, The First 28, Justice for Memphis, Dream Bigger Memphis — five new shells, five new slogans, and the same old story. Like the 901s multiplying across the storefronts and nonprofits — 901 Clean, 901 Rise, 901 Thrive, 901 Fresh Future — these names blur into one giant illusion: a city branding its own betrayal all for access to public dollars. Each initiative launches with ribbon-cuttings and press conferences, then vanishes into the same opaque accounts where public trust goes to die.

 

The Money Trail Behind “More for Memphis” and “First 8”

At the center of the expanding corruption web sits Seeding Success, the organization that operates both the More for Memphis and First 8 initiatives — and simultaneously controls the Tennessee Prosperity PAC, a political action committee that bankrolled sitting Memphis City Council Members and Shelby County Commissioners who later voted on or publicly supported Seeding Success–affiliated programs- More for Memphis and First 8: 

Memphis City Council Members 

• Councilman J.B. Smiley Jr. — $2,500

• Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas — $2,500

• Councilwoman Jerri Green — $5,000

• Councilman Philip Spinosa — $2,500

• Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker White — $2,500

• Councilman Chase Carlisle — $2,500

• Councilman Ford Canale — $2,500

Shelby County Commissioners

• Commissioner Britney Thornton Whaley — $8,300

• Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. — $8,300

• Commissioner Mickell Lowery Mills — $8,300

• Commissioner Erika Sugarmon Avant — $8,300

• Commissioner Shante Avant Sugarmon — $4,000

In total, more than $50,000 in PAC money flowed directly from Seeding Success’s political arm into the campaigns of the very officials responsible for authorizing or advancing its multimillion-dollar funding initiatives. This isn’t philanthropy — it’s political money laundering masquerading as civic investment.

How Paul Young Became the Custodian of Memphis Corruption

Though Mayor Paul Young wasn’t yet sitting in the mayor seat when Accelerate Memphis was conceived, he was already inside the room where its blueprint was drawn — a city of Memphis employer and high ranking official in the very administration that birthed the $200 million scam. His ascent to the mayor’s office wasn’t an interruption of that system; it was its insurance policy. To publicly question Accelerate Memphis would be to question his own political lineage — the colleagues who groomed him, the donors who bankrolled him, and the machine that quietly anointed him as its next custodian.

And perhaps that was precisely the point. Paul Young has never built a business, never made payroll, never hired or fired an employee. In a city where real entrepreneurs fight to survive, he has lived entirely within government’s protective cocoon — untested by markets, untouched by risk. For the elites behind Memphis’s revolving-door scams, he was the perfect candidate: a man of credentials without commerce, ambition without autonomy. The ideal puppet is not the one who lies — it’s the one who doesn’t know enough to see the strings.

 

THE PROOF IS IN THE PARKS: FROM ACCELERATE MEMPHIS SCAM TO CITY RESIDENTS REALITY 

Accelerate Memphis boasted of $64.9 million in park improvements.

But in working-class neighborhoods — Hickory Hill, Southwest Memphis, Whitehaven — there are no new benches, no resurfaced courts, no visible “transformation.”

The evidence is photographic:

• FOX13 showed a father with his daughters mowing public parks himself.

• WREG’s Jessica Knox showed homes engulfed in grass taller than the residents.

• The City’s own website lists “Neighborhood Parks Improvements” with vague captions, no locations, and no completion dates.

It was a scene that should never exist in a city that just claimed to have spent nearly $65 million improving its parks:

A Memphis father, nicknamed 901 NASCAR, loading his lawnmower into the back of a truck and taking his two young daughters to a 12 acre park Winridge Park in Hickory Hill. 

The city’s grass was waist-high, the playground overrun. The father, unpaid and unacknowledged, spent his weekend doing what the $200M Accelerate Memphis city government would not — cutting, clearing, and cleaning.

“Sometimes you have to go out and get things done yourself,” he told FOX13 Memphis. “I took action, leading by example.”  You could probably here the laughter of the $200M Accelerate Memphis city officials in the background. 

That quote — quiet, almost resigned — captures what Memphis has become: a city where citizens cut grass while bureaucrats cut checks.

News WREG 3 reported that another Memphis resident, Dr. Dorothy Wesson, faced waist-high grass swallowing her neighborhood. She called the city’s 311 line repeatedly, asking for help.

The answer? “Oh yeah,” despite the $200 million Accelerate Memphis bond,  she recalled the operator saying. “Go mow the yard yourself.”

Wesson’s street is now home to abandoned houses infested with snakes, rats, and locusts.

So while City Hall brags about “social bonds” and “revitalization,” ordinary citizens are literally fighting pests, grass, and government neglect — in neighborhoods that were supposed to be accelerated.

Decelerating Memphis

The slogan promised acceleration — Accelerate Memphis.

But the results show the opposite:

• Crime is up.

• Schools are failing.

• Parks are overgrown.

• Neighborhoods are crumbling.

You cannot accelerate a city while decelerating its morals.

You cannot issue “social bonds” while breaking the social contract.

You cannot tell citizens to mow their own parks while your friends collect the bond fees.

 

The Cost of Civic Fraud

This is not just an accounting issue. It’s a betrayal of public trust.

Under U.S. v. Mississippi Valley Generating Co. (364 U.S. 520, 1961), government conduct must be “beyond reproach.”

Memphis has failed that standard spectacularly.

The city’s inability to reconcile $200 million in bond proceeds violates not only SEC disclosure law but also Tennessee’s own fiscal accountability standards.

If a private contractor kept books this sloppy, they’d be prosecuted.

If a citizen failed to mow, they’d be fined.

But in Memphis, the government that can’t mow grass also can’t manage money — and no one’s held accountable.

The Pattern: How “Accelerate” Became a Cover for Decay

Kent’s discovery reveals what he calls “the first phase of the Memphis municipal crime wave” — the second  being the More for Memphis scheme, which planned to funnel hundreds of millions to the politically connected nonprofit – Seeding Success under the guise of “equity.”

Accelerate Memphis was birthed under the political era:

Mayor Jim Strickland’s administration (2016–2023), Doug McGowen – CEO Memphis Light Gas and Water ( Former City of Memphis COO), and a City Council led by Martavious Jones, JB Smiley., and others who have long championed opaque “revitalization” scams.

Former Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’

The method was simple:

1. Create a visionary name (Accelerate Memphis, More for Memphis).

2. Issue large sums of debt or secure federal funds.

3. Partner with a network of politically friendly contractors or “project management” nonprofits.

4. Produce glossy websites and ceremonial press events.

5. When the money disappears, blame “supply chain delays,” “staff turnover,” or “community planning adjustments.”

The rhetoric never changes; only the logos do.

The Crimes Beneath the Slogan

At least three potential crimes sit at the core of the Accelerate Memphis scandal — each serious enough to trigger federal investigation.

1. Municipal Securities Fraud

Accelerate Memphis was funded by $200 million in municipal bonds, Tennessee’s first so-called social bonds.

But the City’s official financial reports and investor disclosures — filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) — appear inconsistent with its internal records.

If the city overstated or misrepresented project progress, or commingled Accelerate funds with ARPA dollars, that constitutes securities fraud under SEC Rule 10b-5 and 15c2-12.

That means the city didn’t just mislead taxpayers — it may have misled bondholders.

2. Uniform Guidance and ARPA Violations

The City’s own FY24 report admits that Accelerate Memphis and ARPA were “coordinated to maximize impact.”

That coordination, if undocumented, violates 2 C.F.R. § 200.302 and § 200.303, which require separate tracking of federal funds, internal controls, and cost allowability.

Mixing these accounts without compliance systems triggers federal audit findings and potential clawbacks under the Uniform Guidance.

3. False Claims and False Statements

If City officials knowingly certified false information to the Comptroller, the SEC, or the U.S. Treasury, that’s a potential False Claims Act and False Statements violation (31 U.S.C. §3729, 18 U.S.C. §1001).

Submitting false progress data to justify debt repayment or justify ARPA reallocation is not just bureaucratic misconduct — it’s federal fraud.

 

The Cast: Familiar Faces, Familiar Schemes

The City Council’s oversight committee, led by Martavious Jones, approved the Accelerate Memphis allocations.

The Mayor at the time, Jim Strickland, publicly celebrated the issuance as “the largest investment in neighborhood equity in city history.”

And while citizens demanded answers about how their money vanished, Mayor Paul Young remained silent. By 2024, his administration had failed to produce any public, project-level accounting for the $200 million in Accelerate Memphis funds — not a spreadsheet, not a ledger, not a single transparent audit. His silence has been his signature. Young has never once stood up for the taxpayers defrauded by this scheme. He’s no Joe B. Kent — the citizen watchdog who exposed the scam in the first place.

The council’s finance committee — including Worth Morgan, Chase Carlisle, JB Smiley Jr., and Michalyn Easter-Thomas — signed off on multiple budget amendments but never demanded full reconciliations.

Many of these same figures later appeared in support of the More for Memphis ordinance — a near-identical mechanism for funneling public dollars through private intermediaries like Seeding Success and MFA (Memphis Finance Authority).

Both initiatives shared not just strategy, but staff, consultants, and silence.

The Hypocrisy of “Acceleration”

If you ask Memphis residents today, most haven’t noticed the acceleration.

Crime continues to rise. Schools crumble. Entire neighborhoods remain without reliable streets, streetlights,  or safe parks.

“How can you accelerate Memphis without decelerating crime and accelerating education?” insiders asks.

“It’s an insult to intelligence — they accelerated corruption, not progress.”

 

The Bigger Picture: Government Gangsters in City Hall

Memphis has long been a city where private gain hides behind public purpose.

First came the MLGW tree-trimming scandal — a $228 million contract doled out to vendors under false pretenses.

Then More for Memphis, which seeks to divert hundreds of millions to a single “data-driven” unregistered nonprofit. 

Now Accelerate Memphis — the city’s own bond-financed “public improvement” scheme — may be the largest in scale, if not audacity.

Each has the same blueprint:

• A feel-good name (Accelerate, More for, First 8).

• A private network of insiders behind the curtain.

A compliant City Council and County Commission unwilling to demand records from their main donor.

• And a public too exhausted to notice.

What Comes Next

Kent’s latest complaint has reportedly been filed with the Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower’s Office.

If the numbers hold, Memphis could face:

• State audit findings for financial mismanagement;

• Federal inquiries for bond and ARPA misuse;

• And  criminal penalties under the False Claims Act and Securities Exchange Act.

The silence of Memphis leadership is telling.

The Mayor’s office has yet to issue any clarification. The Council’s finance committee has offered no follow-up hearings.

The Comptroller’s audit division, according to internal correspondence, is “reviewing the matter.”

But the bigger question remains:

Who truly accelerated Memphis — and who cashed in on the crash?

Sidebar: The Potential Violations

Category	Statute / Rule	Description
Municipal Securities Fraud	SEC Rule 10b-5 / 15c2-12	False or misleading statements to bondholders/investors
False Claims Act	31 U.S.C. §3729	False certifications or misrepresentations in use of funds
False Statements	18 U.S.C. §1001	False reports to Comptroller or federal agencies
Theft or Bribery from Federal Programs	18 U.S.C. §666	Misuse of funds connected to ARPA
Uniform Guidance Violations	2 C.F.R. §200.302–303	Failure to maintain records/internal controls for federal awards
Breach of Fiduciary Duty	Local Charter / Common Law	Dereliction of public trust and duty of care
Public Records Violations	Tenn. Code Ann. §10-7-503	Failure to disclose project-level spending

 

The $700  Million Dollar Pyramid Scheme: Job B. Kent  Against the Memphis Elitist and Political Mafia

 

Between the $200 million Accelerate Memphis boondoggle, the $200 million MLGW tree-cutting scandal, and the $300 million More for Memphis racket, citizen watchdog Joe B. Kent has single-handedly unearthed what amounts to almost a billion-dollar fraud against the people of Memphis- in the past 5 years alone. That’s not fiscal mismanagement — that’s organized looting dressed up as policy. The architects of these schemes understand the city’s painful secret: Memphis has one of the highest rates of functional illiteracy and political disengagement in America. The fewer citizens who can read a balance sheet or follow a budget hearing, the easier it becomes to hide theft behind civic slogans. If voters can’t discern the trap, the trappers keep their seats. In Memphis, ignorance isn’t merely exploited through its dysfunctional educational system — it’s engineered.

No money for education, but $228 million for tree-trimming.

No money to fight crime, but $300 million for More for Memphis.

No money to fix potholes, but $200 million for parks and swimming pools.

 

Justice Descends on Memphis: The Federal Alliance of Bondi, Patel, and Hegseth Authorized By President Trump

History will remember this not just as an investigation, but as a reckoning. This isn’t a civic embarrassment — it’s a federal case waiting to be opened.

The SEC, the U.S. Treasury Inspector General, and the Department of Justice will likely subpoena every record — the Accelerate Memphis bond ledgers, the ARPA co-funding trails, every contractor invoice, and every email exchanged between the Strickland administration, the City Council finance committee, and today’s Mayor Paul Young. Every dollar will be traced. Every signature examined. Every unnamed official named.

Because the warning has already been sounded. More than a year ago, Joe B. Kent and a handful of citizens stood before the Shelby County Commission and the Memphis City Council and told them plainly: The Department of Justice is coming. The FBI is coming. And now, it’s here.

In a stunning escalation, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, known nationally for his decisive leadership and unflinching integrity, has ordered the military to deploy 20 top military attorneys to Memphis — more than any city in America. 

The operation bears the unmistakable fingerprints of Pam Bondi, the dynamic and fearless U.S. Attorney General, whose record of rooting out public corruption is unmatched, and Kash Patel, the relentless and incorruptible Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose national campaign against entrenched government cartels has brought accountability to corners of America long thought untouchable.

Already, the FBI has arrested 14 police officers in Mississippi for drug trafficking and dozens of NBA players and organized crime figures for illegal gambling. But as one federal source told The Shelby County Observer, “Memphis is gearing up to be the biggest story in the country.”

When federal indictments begin, they won’t stop at the rank and file. They will climb upward — to the Memphis City Council, former and current  mayors, MLGW executives, and Shelby County Commissioners — the architects of what Kent has called “the biggest coordinated theft of taxpayer dollars in US  history.”

And as the walls close in, one truth remains:

Joe B. Kent saw it first. The citizen analyst who warned that corruption in Memphis had become systemic, predictive, and self-replicating has been vindicated. The DOJ and FBI aren’t merely investigating a scandal — they are dismantling a Memphis Political Mafia that profited off poverty, raided public trust, and mistook civic ignorance for a blank check.