Mississippi Auditor Refers 10, Including Brett Favre, to Attorney General Over Welfare Money
Mississippi State Auditor Shad White has referred a case to the state’s attorney general involving NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre and nine others who received millions in welfare dollars that should have gone to help the state’s poorest. The famed quarterback and Mississippi native received $1.1 million in funds from a nonprofit whose founder has since been indicted on state and federal charges for their alleged role in the largest embezzlement scheme in state history.
The Republican auditor sent demand letters to Favre and the others last month, giving them 30 days to pay the money back. The NFL star, a Kiln, Miss., native who now lives in Hattiesburg,, paid back $600,000 on Oct. 12, 2021, after receiving White’s letter, but not the full $828,000 White had demanded, which included interest. Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, did not respond to a request for comment.
“A little over 30 days ago, my office issued demands on several individuals ordering them to repay misspent welfare money,” White said in a statement on Tuesday. “As I said at the time, if any of those individuals failed to repay the money, the demands will be forwarded to the attorney general’s office, which is in charge of enforcing the demands in court.”
Between 2016 and 2019, Favre received $1.1 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Funds from Families First Mississippi, a non profit run by private-school operator Nancy New. Then-Mississippi State Department of Human Services Director John Davis allegedly facilitated the transfer of the TANF funds to New’s nonprofit in what the auditor has described as the largest welfare-fraud case in state history.
Read more: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/18254/mississippi-auditor-refers-10-including-brett-favre-to-attorney-general-over-welfare-money/