Mississippi Democrat Senate hopeful under fire for work for company that had to pay $2.5M to settle bribery case

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One final Senate seat up for grabs in Mississippi

Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith faces Democrat Mike Espy in Mississippi's Senate runoff election; Steve Harrigan reports.

Mississippi Democratic Senate hopeful Mike Espy is facing ethical questions over his work for a company that paid $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit concerning bribing of officials in a bid to score lucrative contracts with the state prison, the latest revelation of the Democrat’s troubling associations.

Espy, who’s facing Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Nov. 27 runoff election, declared in the latest financial disclosure nearly $10,000 income from Global Tel Link, a controversial prison phone company.

The company had to pay out $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit after Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sued the company in 2017 for allegedly being responsible for bribes paid by their agents to then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps.

Mike Espy declared in the latest financial disclosure nearly $10,000 income from Global Tel Link, a controversial prison phone company that had to pay a multi-million dollar fine to settle a bribery case.

The commissioner was sentenced to 20 years for taking at least $1.4 million in kickbacks and bribes from various companies, and awarding them with more than $800 million worth of state prison contracts.

Prison consultant Sam Waggoner also pleaded guilty to bribery in 2015 and testified that Global Tel-Link paid him and he funneled part of the money to Epps.

Last year, Epps, Waggoner and Global Tel Link were subject to a federal class-action lawsuit. The company was accused of keeping the inmate calling service contract without competitive bidding and is charging exorbitant fees far exceeding market rates, according to The Clarion-Ledger.

The exact nature of work Espy, a former lobbyist and U.S. agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton, provided to the company remains unclear. The Espy campaign didn’t respond to Fox News’ request for a comment.

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DEMOCRAT MISSISSIPPI SENATE HOPEFUL MISLED ABOUT $750G LOBBYING CONTRACT WITH AFRICAN DESPOT

The Democrat’s association with Global Tel Link is the latest controversy concerning his career that’s mired with ethical questions.

He was forced to resign from the Clinton administration in 1994 after he was the subject of an investigation for allegedly receiving improper gifts.

He was indicted on 30 related felony charges in 1997, but the charges were dropped after the jury said there wasn’t enough evidence showing Espy accepted gifts with criminal intent or there was a quid-pro-quo.

Mike Espy who is seeking to unseat appointed U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and serve the last two years of the six-year term vacated when Republican Thad Cochran retired for health reasons, speaks before the leadership of Working Together Jackson during their luncheon and accountability session, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Fox News revealed earlier this month that Espy not only lobbied on behalf of an African despot currently on trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, but also misled that he cut the relationship with the ruler after learning about his alleged crimes.

Espy was paid $750,000 in 2011 by then Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo’s government, who lost the 2010 election and refused to concede to his opponent, unleashing extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape of his political opponents, according to the U.S. State Department.

According to a FARA Supplemental Statement filed with the Department of Justice, not only Mike Espy collected the full $750,000 figure, he also dropped the contract just 15 days before it was supposed to end, contradicting his comments.

The payment contradicts Espy’s previous statements that he accepted just a portion of it. “I have voluntarily suspended it,” Espy told the Hill back in 2011 about the contract with the Ivory Coast government. “Events are spiraling rapidly. It is very difficult to work in that context.”

He said he dropped his three-month contract with the country just a little more than a month on the job and collected just $400,000 of the $750,000 amid the outcry of Washington D.C. lobbyists profiting from a brutal regime.

“I have voluntarily suspended it. Events are spiraling rapidly. It is very difficult to work in that context.”

— Mike Espy

But according to a FARA Supplemental Statement filed with the Department of Justice in 2011, not only did Espy collect the full $750,000 figure, he also dropped the contract just 15 days before it was supposed to end, contradicting his statements.

In a statement to Fox News, Espy’s campaign didn’t address the contradiction in the filings and his comments in the media, instead reiterating that he terminated the contract after “one of those clients didn't pass the smell test.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.