Tennessee Official and Executive Charged in Alleged $123 Million State Prison Contract Bid-Rigging Scheme

According to court documents, Wesley Olan Landers, 55, and Jeffrey Scott Wells, 54, both Georgia residents, conspired to manipulate the state’s contract awarding process.
Landers was the former deputy commissioner and chief financial officer for TDOC, and Wells was a former vice president at a company involved in the bidding process. The contract, which had a total value of $123.51 million, was for providing behavioral health services to TDOC inmates.
The charges stem from allegations that Landers, while serving as a high-ranking TDOC official, used his personal email account to send confidential TDOC information to Wells, who at the time was a vice president at “Company B,” according to court documents.
The shared information concerned the bidding process for a new behavioral health services contract, which allegedly gave Company B an unfair advantage.
Landers is accused of sending several drafts of the bids and internal state comments about the contract to Wells between 2018 and 2020.
In March 2020, before the contract was awarded, Landers left his state position and was hired by Company B as vice president of operations—a role allegedly created specifically for him, according to court documents, bypassing the normal hiring processes.
By July 2020, the state had selected Company B to provide behavioral health services in a contract worth over $123 million.
The situation escalated when “Company A,” a competitor in the bidding process, filed a civil lawsuit in October 2020, according to court documents.
The lawsuit targeted both the state of Tennessee and Company B, accusing them of unfair practices in the bidding process. In response to Company A’s subpoenas, Landers and Wells allegedly took steps to conceal their actions.
Court documents allege that Landers used a specialized program to delete emails between him and Wells that were relevant to the case. Both men also allegedly obtained new cell phones, which they used to discuss strategies for hiding incriminating information from investigators.
They were each deposed in the civil case during which they both allegedly provided false testimony under oath.
Landers allegedly claimed he could not remember sending any confidential documents to Wells, while Wells also allegedly denied receiving any such information. Both men also allegedly misrepresented when they last communicated with each other.
The FBI began investigating the case, suspecting potential violations of federal laws, including bribery. The investigation resulted in the charges alleging Landers and Wells had conspired to obstruct justice by destroying evidence and lying under oath to cover up their misconduct.
If convicted, both Landers and Wells could face up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to obstruct justice and commit perjury.
The Epoch Times contacted the attorneys listed as representing the men in the case but did not receive a response by publication time.