Mississippi’s state auditor Shad White is demanding former Jets quarterback Brett Favre finish repaying the state welfare money (plus interest) that White says was improperly spent on projects backed by the retired NFL quarterback.
This stems from a lawsuit, filed in 2022, which claims that the former NFL quarterback redirected welfare money to projects he supported, including a volleyball center at the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter played the sport.
Favre was also allegedly getting paid $1.1 million by the state of Mississippi for speeches that he never made. The money used to pay him was pulled from federal welfare checks.
Favre repaid the state $1.1 million in two installments — $500,000 in May 2020 and $600,000 in October 2021 — but the new court filing said he still owes $729,790 because interest caused growth in the original amount he owed, according to the Associated Press
“It boggles the mind that Mr. Favre could imagine he is entitled to the equivalent of an interest-free loan of $1.1 million in taxpayer money, especially money intended for the benefit of the poor,” White said in a statement Monday, via AP.
In October, a federal judge in Mississippi dismissed a defamation lawsuit Favre filed against ESPN’s “First Take” cohost Shannon Sharpe in February 2023, according to court documents. The defamation lawsuit also included ESPN’s Pat McAfee and White.
Sharpe, who then cohosted FS1′s “Undisputed,” was sued for comments he made about Favre’s alleged ties to the Mississippi welfare scandal over the air.
“You got to be a sorry mofo to steal from the lowest — Mississippi is the poorest state in our country,” Sharpe said on “Undisputed” alongside Skip Bayless. “It’s citizens. So, if they’re the poorest state, Brett has taken from the underserved.”
In May 2023, Favre dropped the defamation lawsuit against McAfee. The lawsuit against the Mississippi state auditor has yet to be dropped.