In recent years, former NFL quarterback Brett Favre has become embroiled in a scandal stemming from use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds.
This week, Favre told Fox News Digital that he has been “unjustly smeared in the media,” regarding the controversy.
“I have done nothing wrong, and it is past time to set the record straight,” he said in a statement sent to the outlet.
Although Favre is perhaps best known for his time as a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, he is in fact a native of Mississippi. That’s where the scandal started.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, money “unlawfully pulled from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund,” by the Mississippi Department of Human Services included $5 million to a nonprofit used to build a volleyball facility at Favre’s urging. The facility was at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.
Fox News Digital said the $5 million was procured through a Block Grant in 2017. Altogether, the scandal covers around $77 million.
“No one ever told me, and I did not know, that funds designated for welfare recipients were going to the University or me,” Favre said this week. “I tried to help my alma mater USM, a public Mississippi state university, raise funds for a wellness center. My goal was and always will be to improve the athletic facilities at my university.”
In May, Mississippi Today reported that the state’s Department of Human Services sued 38 people or companies for “squandering welfare money,” and added that the “long awaited civil lawsuit,” was the most recent step in a scandal going back three years. Along with Favre, former running back Marcus Dupree, former linebacker Paul Lacoste, retired WWE wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase Sr. and others were targeted in the suit.
“State agencies provided the funds to Nancy New’s charity, the Mississippi Community Education Center, which then gave the funds to the University, all with the full knowledge and approval of other State agencies, including the State-wide Institute for Higher Learning, the Governor’s office and the Attorney General’s office,” said Favre.
Thus far, Favre has not been charged with a crime, said the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Thursday. New has pleaded guilty to four counts of bribing a public official, two counts of fraud against the government, six counts of wire fraud and racketeering, said the outlet. Overall, five people have pleaded guilty so far to state charges in connection to the scandal.
Last month, former Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) official John Davis also pleaded guilty for conspiring to defraud the State of Mississippi of millions of dollars in federal funds, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He is expected to be sentenced in February.
“I was told that the legal work to ensure that these funds could be accepted by the university was done by State attorneys and State employees,” Favre told Fox.
However, some texts revealed by Mississippi Today last month may seem at odds with these statements.
State auditor Shad White – who first discovered the misspending and fraud, according to Fox – told Fox News Digital “the volleyball court needed to be used to benefit the needy in Hattiesburg,” but that, “fast-forward to today, what we know now is that the volleyball court has not been used to benefit the needy.”
“Favre also denied that he was asked to deliver speeches for which he did not show,” said the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“He is being sued by the state of Mississippi for interest of the $1.1 million he was paid for cutting radio spots and agreeing to give those speeches,” according to a Mississippi state auditor cited by the outlet. “Favre has refunded the $1.1 million itself.”
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