tax evasion and taking bribes. He took "about $2 million" in exchange for prison contracts. After Epps was indicted, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant quickly ordered renegotiation of the $60 million MTC contract to operate three state prisons: Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, East Mississippi Correctional Facility and Marshall County Correctional Facility, and a fourth, Wilkinson County Correctional Facility, which had been managed by the Corrections Corporation of America, now known as CoreCivic, all of which involved McCrory and Epps. MTC had been sued for mistreatment of inmates in two of those prisons. After his indictment, McCrory had at first plea bargained to lesser federal charges. Before being hired as a consultant by MTC, he had begun working as a consultant to Cornell Companies and GEO, which had paid him $10,000 monthly. MTC subsequently won all four contracts and hired McCrory as a consultant. Upon the disclosure of the federal charges, MTC fired McCrory, claiming they knew nothing of his criminal activities. According to the indictments, MTC confirmed that it paid McCrory $12,000 a month and had hired him at Epps' recommendation. The company stated Epps had not forced it to hire McCrory. MTC spokesman Issa Arnita said that Epps "made us aware of the fee McCrory had charged in the past to other contractors" and had worked for GEO Group, the Boca Raton, Florida for-profit prison firm which held the contracts that were subsequently awarded to MTC. MTC denied any knowledge of alleged inappropriate relationships between Epps and McCrory. The indictment recounts a 2012 conversation quoting Epps telling McCrory that he had persuaded MTC to hire him, with them to split MTC's payments after taxes. The indictment has Epps saying, "I got us $12,000 per month." Epps was originally scheduled to be sentenced on June 9, 2015, but on June 8 federal authorities first announced that the sentencing was indefinitely delayed. McCrory, co-defendant in the Epps case, moved to withdraw his guilty plea and have a trial scheduled. Consequently, the sentencing of Epps was again postponed. The sentencing was delayed by the judge to allow defense lawyers additional time to review materials concerning how much money was gained by 15 corporations paying bribes to the pair. Prosecutors hoped to use the evidence to increase the recommended prison sentences for Epps and McCrory. On May 25, 2017, Judge Wingate sentenced Epps to 235 months (19.6 years) in federal prison. Wingate, who was