By: The Shelby County Observer, Public Affairs Staff

Investigative Report — November 17, 2025

The Government Gangsters Series draws its name from Government Gangsters, the blistering exposé by FBI Director Kash Patel, who warns that America’s deepest corruption is not committed in the streets but in government offices where public officials weaponize power under the banner of “equity.” Patel reveals how modern bureaucrats perfect the art of moral theater—projecting virtue while engineering exploitation. The unfolding More For Memphis scandal reads as if scripted straight from Patel’s pages: a political machine pushing a fictitious $100 million ordinance, financed by PAC influence, riddled with undisclosed conflicts, and designed to enrich insiders under the guise of helping the poor—at the very moment Shelby County cannot pay its own employees. In Memphis, Patel’s warnings are no longer cautionary—they’re happening in real time.

SHELBY COUNTY, TN—— Shelby County stands at an astonishing crossroads—one that reveals more about the moral collapse of its political leadership than any scandal in recent memory.

With the ink barely dry on public statements acknowledging the County may not have enough money to make November payroll, several members of the Shelby County Commission are attempting to approve an ordinance claiming $100 million in “secured funds” for the More For Memphis poverty – profiteering scheme—funds that do not exist, have never existed, and were admitted on public record to never exist.

Yet the vote is scheduled for today.

A County That Cannot Pay Workers—But Can Approve a Scam

In a November 13th FOX13 investigation, Deputy Director Danielle Schonbaum confirmed what insiders have whispered for months:

• Payroll obligations exceed $30 million per month.

• The County is $43 million in the hole.

• The Comptroller refused to approve the budget.

• Emergency borrowing takes months and requires state approval.

Shelby County may not be able to pay its employees within weeks.

And yet at this precise moment of fiscal crisis, certain Commissioners are aggressively pushing the More For Memphis ordinance, a program falsely advertised as supported by $100 million in “secured” philanthropic funds.

It is a lie.

It is a documented lie.

It is a lie so brazen that even city leaders—who originally partnered with Shelby County—have already withdrawn their version of the ordinance because they recognized the fraud.

 

The Smoking Gun: Burke’s Admission That Exposes the Scheme

The scandal has been brewing for more than a year. On December 9, 2024, More for Memphis representative Jamilica Burke conceded under questioning by Commissioners Henri Brooks and Britney Thornton that:

“More for Memphis is not an incorporated organization.”

“The $100 million figure represents ‘committed’ funding — not secured funds.”

Not secured.

Not banked.

Not real.

Yet the ordinance drafted by Shelby County attorneys and City of Memphis attorneys claimed, in writing, that $100 million had been secured.

This contradiction is not an error.

It is the heart of the fraud.

The Fraud Began Even Earlier — and It Was Worse

At the November 13, 2024 Commission meeting, Seeding Success CEO Mark Sturgis told the public:

“We’ve raised about $103 million to date.”

Later in the same meeting, he reversed himself:

“There are $166 million in investments currently aligned, but not coordinated.”

Two claims.

Both incompatible.

Neither supported by bank statements, audits, or verified documents.

No private funder has ever confirmed the existence of committed or secured funds.

No audited financial statements have ever been produced.

No IRS-recognized organization named “More for Memphis” even exists.

Yet Shelby County attorneys and the ordinance writers insisted that the $100 million was “secured.”

This is the definition of false representation of financial condition—a federal and state crime.

PAC-Financed Corruption: Every Commissioner Tied to the Tennessee Prosperity PAC

(Affiliated with Seeding Success / More for Memphis / First 8 Memphis )

The financial fingerprints of political influence are unmistakable. Tennessee Prosperity PAC — the political arm tied to Seeding Success and the More for Memphis poverty-  profiteering scheme — quietly funneled tens of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of key Shelby County Commissioners. Public filings show that Commissioners Whaley, Ford Jr., Caswell, Avant, Mills, and Thornton each received $8,300, while Commissioner Sugarmon accepted $4,000 and Commissioner Brooks received $2,500.

The pattern is undeniable: every major supporter of the More for Memphis ordinance had been financially backed by the same PAC promoting it.

Only a single commissioner, Brandon Morrison, ever returned her PAC contribution. The rest kept the money and later advanced either the First 8 Memphis scam or the More For Memphis scam/ ordinance publicly exposed as fraudulent for claiming “$100 million in secured funds,” a statement that Seeding Success officials themselves admitted on record was not true.

This is not theoretical influence. It is direct, documented, and politically consequential. These commissioners took PAC money and then pushed a massive spending ordinance in a county that cannot meet payroll, has drawn a fiscal distress warning from the Tennessee Comptroller, and is now navigating multiple lawsuits alleging bid rigging and collusion.

Their actions raise profound ethical and legal concerns:

quid-pro-quo policymaking, conflicts of interest, abuse of public trust, and potential violations of Tennessee ethics and procurement law.

 

The PAC money was the investment.

More For Memphis / First 8 Memphis is the return.

The public is the collateral damage.

 

In a stable government, such an ordinance would be dead on arrival. In Shelby County’s fractured and financially fragile landscape, with no functioning Ethics Commission for the past seven years, pushing this fraudulent measure amounts to political malpractice — and undoubtedly criminal misconduct.

 

Tennessee Prosperity PAC Contributions to Shelby County Commissioners

(Affiliated with Seeding Success / More for Memphis / First 8 Memphis )

• Whaley — $8,300

• Ford Jr. — $8,300

• Caswell — $8,300

• Avant — $8,300

• Mills — $8,300

• Thornton — $8,300

• Sugarmon — $4,000

• Brooks — $2,500

THE MONEY NEVER EXISTED — AND THEY KNEW IT

Seeding Success, More  For Memphis, and affiliated political operatives explicitly admitted that the $100 million was not secured.

Not pledged.

Not committed.

Not real.

Yet Commissioners—many of whom received financial support from Tennessee Prosperous PAC, which is closely tied to Seeding Success—continued to promote the lie.

This is not policymaking.

This is not governance.

This is a criminal enterprise masked as public policy, one that fits squarely within federal patterns of wire fraud, grant fraud, public corruption, and RICO-style collusion.

 

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS EXPOSED THE SCHEME

The most damning element is timing.

On the very week Shelby County announced that:

• It may not be able to pay its employees,

• Its emergency borrowing requires state approval,

• The Comptroller rejected the budget,

• The county is drowning in lawsuits,

—Commissioners still insisted that they must urgently pass the More For  Memphis funding poverty- profiteering scheme. 

A county that cannot fund payroll has no business participating in speculative, unverified schemes —much less ones based on financial misrepresentation.

The desperation reveals the truth:

Passing More For Memphis is not about children.

It is not about data.

It is not about public good.

It is about delivering political favors to the very organizations funding their election machinery.

 

SUGARMON AWAKENS — TOO LATE, BUT BETTER THAN NEVER

Commissioner Erika Sugarmon announced she would withdraw sponsorship of the More  Memphis poverty- profiteering scheme—finally snapping out of the political hypnosis that so many observers warned about.

Her withdrawal proves two things:

1. She was being used as a symbolic puppet for a fraudulent initiative.

2. She finally realized that the lawsuits, investigations, and Government Gangsters investigative reports exposed the truth the establishment hoped no one would see.

She was likely unaware of the full extent of the scheme, but the law is clear:

She was warned during public meetings by citizens armed with facts. She should have known.

Her reversal, though late, is a signal to the remaining Commissioners to step back from the cliff before they plunge the County into deeper legal and financial catastrophe.

THE CRIMES: A BRIEF OUTLINE FOR FEDERAL PROSECUTORS

Based on the public record alone, Commissioners who knowingly advanced the More For Memphis ordinance may have committed or facilitated:

• Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343)

• False Claims Act Violations

• Misuse of Public Funds

• Official Misconduct

• Civil RICO Violations

• Breach of Oath of Office

• Conspiracy to Defraud the Public

Because the ordinance falsely represents the existence of secured funds—and because this misrepresentation influences public expenditure—it satisfies multiple elements of federal fraud statutes.

Combined with PAC contributions, the pattern resembles classic political racketeering.

 

THE COUNTY CANNOT PAY EMPLOYEES — BUT THE COMMISSIONERS CAN GIVE AWAY MONEY THEY DO NOT HAVE

The moral indictment is as severe as the legal one:

How can elected officials justify passing a fraudulent ordinance for an unverified private initiative while telling Sheriff’s deputies, office clerks, and county workers:

“We might not have the money to pay you next month.”

This is not mismanagement.

This is abuse.

This is betrayal.

This is government gangsterism in its purest form.

THE FINAL QUESTION BEFORE TODAY’S VOTE

If the Commissioners vote for More For Memphis today, knowing:

• The $100 million is fake,

• The County cannot pay its employees,

• The City has already backed out due to fraud concerns.

• The Comptroller has condemned their finances,

• and the PAC financing has compromised multiple members—

Then this is no longer a political scandal.

It becomes Exhibit A in the federal prosecution that Shelby County residents desperately deserve.

The More For Memphis ordinance is not merely misguided.

It is a reckless, deceptive, and corrupt maneuver pushed in the final hours before payroll collapse—designed to enrich private networks at the public’s expense.

A county teetering on bankruptcy cannot afford political illusions, philanthropic fantasies, or fraudulent policy experiments.

It needs leadership.

Instead, it received More For Memphis.

And that is why this chapter—Government Gangsters, Part 10—may be remembered as the moment Shelby County finally saw the truth behind its own political mirage.