Brett Favre claims he did nothing wrong and was ‘smeared’ in the media over his alleged involvement in a scandal over the use of welfare funds in the state of Mississippi, he said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“I have been unfairly disparaged in the media,” Favre said in the statement, which Fox News Digital released on Tuesday. “I did nothing wrong, and it is high time to set the record straight.
“No one ever told me, and I didn’t know, that funds for welfare recipients went to the University or to me. I tried to help my alma mater USM [University of Southern Mississippi], a public university in the state of Mississippi, to raise funds for a wellness center. My goal was and always will be to improve the sports facilities at my university. »
$77 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds were diverted from the poorest people in America’s poorest state to the rich and powerful, according to a Mississippi state audit Mississippians. Six people have been arrested in connection with the case, five of whom have pleaded guilty to state charges. Favre has not been criminally charged, but is a defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by the state.
His alma mater, Southern Mississippi University, received $5 million from TANF, transferred from the Department of Human Services to a nonprofit and ultimately to the USM Athletic Foundation, according to the audit. A volleyball facility, the Wellness Center, was later built on campus. Text messages show that Favre lobbied for funding for a volleyball center when his daughter was on the team.
“State agencies provided the funds to Nancy New’s charitable organization, the Mississippi Community Education Center, which then gave the funds to the University, all with the full knowledge and approval of other state agencies,” Favre’s statement continues, “including the State-wide Institute for Higher Learning, the Governor’s Office, and the Attorney General’s Office. »
“I was told that the legal work to ensure these funds could be accepted by the university was done by attorneys and state employees. »
According to the state audit and a civil lawsuit, Favre also received $1.1 million from TANF funds for speeches the auditor says Favre never made. He ended up repaying the money, but the state is claiming $228,000 in interest.
Favre’s attorney, Eric Herschmann, told Fox News that Favre “was never paid for a speech not delivered. Anyone who has claimed otherwise does not know the real facts.” He also told Fox that the ex-quarterback “was paid to do every radio call that was requested.”