Gregg Allen Phillips (born October 13, 1960) is an American conspiracy theorist and the former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and the author of a tweet cited by U.S. President Donald Trump that falsely alleges, without evidence,[1] that between three and five million non-citizens voted in the 2016 elections.
[2][3][4] Phillips executive produced and appeared in Dinesh D’Souza's debunked[5] political film 2000 Mules and pushed a conspiracy theory about election fraud.
"[15] Phillips has faced allegations of ethical misconduct and cronyism, including abusing his previous positions in government in both Mississippi and Texas for personal financial gain.
[16][17] Phillips was found to "award millions in government contracts" to his own personal businesses or associates involved, and then were "quietly shuttered years later".
[16] In a follow-up 1995 report by the Mississippi legislature, they concluded that "Mr. Phillips’s actions create the appearance of impropriety, facilitating an erosion of the public trust… [that] could constitute a violation of state ethics laws.
[20] Unbeknownst to the public, Wohlgemuth legislative director Erica Phillips began dating fellow Republican Texas House Representative Jack Stick.
[19] In March 2007, Stick's matchmaker and the former Representative Arlene Wohlgemuth had become a lobbyist, at which point she brought the House Appropriations Committee a proposal which she acknowledged would probably steer a technology contract to GHT Development, which Gregg Phillips owned.
She ultimately had to resign from her role under then Executive Commissioner Kyle Janek on February 15, 2015, amidst criminal investigations and scandals related to her husband Jack Stick steering a no-bid $110 million state contract to a local company in which he had significant conflicts of financial interest as a legislator.
[34] Phillips was earning $180,000 annually as the CEO of Enterject, Inc. Phillips claimed that he severed all ties when he was at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, having turned it over to the Operations Officer Paige Harkins, herself the daughter of real estate developer Gary Harkins, a friend of Temple and whom Temple called an old "family friend.
[18] In March 2007, former Representative Arlene Wohlgemuth turned lobbyist, brought the House Appropriations Committee a proposal, which she acknowledged that the amendment's wording would probably steer a technology contract to GHT Development.
[40][41][42] CoverMe claimed that “in the span of a five-minute interview, hospitals can provide patients with real-time eligibility and enrollment support, creating better outcomes for both the patient and provider.”[43] It made $1.7 million charging services to University of Mississippi Medical Center for work through 2023[44] An investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting found that Phillips and the Texas-based nonprofit organization True the Vote engaged in questionable transactions that involving more than $1 million sent to its founders, and a longtime romantic affair between the founder Catherine Engelbrecht and Phillips.
[45][17] On August 17, 2012, True the Vote sent $5,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee, which is illegal because a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit may not contribute to any political party or candidates.
[47][49][50] In 2015, True the Vote gave $30,000 to a company called Define Idea Inc. for “IT support services.”[47][51] Phillips was also a director of Define Idea Inc.[47][52] True the Vote gave a retainer of half a million dollars to James Bopp’s law firm to lead the prosecution of cases related to 2020 election fraud claims, however, Bopp only filed four of seven lawsuits committed to Fred Eshelman in exchange for his $2.5 million donation.
[53] Of the $2 million left over from Eshelman's donation, $750,000 went to OPSEC Group LLC, a new company created by Phillips and based out of Alabama, purportedly to do voter analysis.
[45] On June 5, 2022, Gregg Phillips had announced on Truth Social that he had begun a nonprofit under the name "The Freedom Project" and began soliciting donations to raise $25 million for a mobile hospital in Ukraine in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The hospitals in Ukraine never materialized, and Phillips abandoned the project earlier in April 2022, months before making the fundraising posts on TruthSocial, according to his attorney.
We’ve gathered 2016 voter rolls, we’ve gathered information from thousands of [ Freedom of Information Act requests], but we’re limited by the lack of resources [...] Next steps up are for us to sort of pull back on the national audit, and focus on targeted investigations.” In March 2017, Phillips told The Texas Tribune the final results were still forthcoming but the audit was no longer going to happen.
[65] In May 2022, Dinesh D'Souza released 2000 Mules, a debunked[5] political film which falsely alleged that Democrat-aligned individuals were paid to illegally collect and deposit ballots into drop boxes in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during the 2020 presidential election, based on unsubstantiated allegations by True the Vote involving cellphone data.
[66] According to Houston Public Media and NPR, Phillips made a "false claim" that alleged research helped "solved a murder of a young little girl in Atlanta", with True The Vote acknowledging it had reached out to law enforcement "more than two months later", and had "played no role in those arrests or indictments".
[68][69] Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger examined one instance of voter fraud falsely alleged by Phillips, whereby a man delivered multiple ballots to a dropbox.