Brett Favre Breaks Silence on Welfare Fraud Scandal, Tells Fox News He’s Been ‘Unjustly Smeared in the Media’
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NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre finally addressed a welfare fraud scandal in Mississippi that has had his name attached to it since the story of funneling millions from the state first broke.
Officials discovered that more than $70 million in welfare funds were funneled through charities and other means and inappropriately spent, including millions that went to the university Favre’s daughter attended. Messages from Favre about the funds were released, and Favre was also reportedly paid for speaking engagements that never actually happened.
John Davis, the once head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, pled guilty last month to fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the scheme.
The Justice Department announced:
At Davis’s direction, MDHS provided federal funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the two nonprofit organizations to fraudulently award contracts to various entities and individuals for social services that were never provided.
Money sent to Favre and the University of Southern Mississippi for a volleyball center are allegedly part of this system of fraud. Favre previously denied any wrongdoing in the matter and now he’s claiming he’s been “unjustly smeared in the media” thanks to his involvement in this story.
“I have been unjustly smeared in the media,” he said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “I have done nothing wrong, and it is past time to set the record straight.”
Favre claimed he had no idea the money the volleyball center received were welfare funds.
“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,” he said. The retired athlete also said he is paying back funds he thought he was paid for speaking events and radio ads.
State auditor Shad White, who first discovered the fraud, also provided a statement to Fox News Digital, saying there may be no concrete proof Favre knew where the funds came from, but there is no denying they are not being used as intended. Among the released messages from Favre about the funds, the quarterback also expressed concern about the public finding how the amount and where it came from.
“The volleyball court needed to be used to benefit the needy in Hattiesburg, and fast-forward to today, what we know now is that the volleyball court has not been used to benefit the needy,” White said. “So, this is an unallowable use of TANF funds for a few different reasons. And for those reasons, it doesn’t matter that the attorney signed off on this.”
