He says he did not know money designated for welfare recipients was going to him or to the University of Southern Mississippi.
JACKSON, Miss. — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says he is being treated unfairly in news coverage of a Mississippi welfare scandal, including about payments he received to help fund a pet project of his — a volleyball arena at the university he attended and where his daughter was playing the sport.
It is one of the few public statements Favre has made about Mississippi’s largest-ever public corruption case involving the misspending of tens of millions of dollars in welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in one of the poorest states in the U.S. Favre has repaid $1.1 million he received for speaking fees from the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group that spent TANF money with approval from the Department of Human Services. But, state Auditor Shad White has said Favre still owes $228,000 in interest.
The director of the nonprofit, Nancy New, pleaded guilty in April to charges of misspending welfare money, as did her son Zachary New, who helped run the center. They await sentencing and have agreed to testify against others. According to court documents, Favre texted New on Aug. 3, 2017, about the payment to him for speaking: “If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”
Favre said in the statement to Fox News on Tuesday that state agencies provided money to Mississippi Community Education Center, which then gave money to the University of Southern Mississippi “all with the full knowledge and approval of other State agencies,” including the board that governs Mississippi’s eight public universities, the governor’s office and the attorney general’s office.
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