Brett Favre. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Pictures
Inexperienced Bay Packers legend Brett Favre’s alleged function in a wide-ranging welfare fraud scandal has taken him from his house state of Mississippi to Capitol Hill, the place he testified in entrance of Congress on Tuesday, September 24.
Favre, together with former Governor Phil Bryant, are the 2 most outstanding figures in a scandal that stems from Mississippi misallocating $77 million in federal funds meant to serve the state’s lowest-income residents.
A few of these misdirected funds went both to Favre himself or to causes Favre advocated for, like a brand new volleyball facility on the campus of his alma mater, the College of Southern Mississippi. Favre’s daughter was on the varsity’s volleyball staff on the time.
The previous quarterback additionally allegedly directed a few of the funds to defunct pharmaceutical firm Prevacus, wherein he was an investor.
Moreover, Favre acquired $1.1 million from that fund in talking charges for occasions he in the end by no means attended. Favre paid that cash again, however he allegedly didn’t return the $730,000 in curiosity that the Mississippi Division of Human Providers says he owes. Favre has denied any wrongdoing and faces no felony costs, however the state is suing him to recoup that curiosity.
In a shocking flip, Favre revealed his Parkinson’s prognosis throughout his testimony, pushing the listening to additional into the limelight.
“Sadly, I additionally misplaced an funding in an organization that I believed was creating a breakthrough concussion drug I believed would assist others, and I’m positive you’ll perceive why it’s too late for me as a result of I’ve not too long ago been recognized with Parkinson’s,” Favre stated.
The Key Gamers
All the net of this scandal is sophisticated, but it surely begins with Bryant, who was in workplace from 2012 to 2020. Bryant appointed John Davis to the place of state welfare director in 2016. Over his four-year tenure, Davis directed thousands and thousands of federal {dollars} to the nonprofit Mississippi Group Training Heart (MCEC), which was run by Nancy New. New allegedly labored intently with Bryant and Favre on directing a few of these funds, meant to assist Mississippians in poverty.
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The cash for the volleyball facility at USM, for instance, got here from the MCEC, “below the guise that individuals in poverty would attend programs on the facility,” in accordance with Mississippi As we speak.
Davis, New and New’s son Zachary have all since been arrested and pleaded responsible to state and federal costs.
The Gist
The Non permanent Help for Needy Households (TANF) program supplies a sure sum of money yearly to every state as a method of help to these in poverty. Underneath Bryant’s administration, tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from TANF grants had been funneled by way of two non-profits, together with the MCEC, in a manner the state auditor deemed “questionable.”
Favre, Southern Mississippi’s volleyball program and Prevacus had been among the many recipients of these funds. Favre and Bryant declare to haven’t recognized the place the cash got here from, however unearthed textual content messages put that into query. For instance, Favre texted New in August 2017, “When you had been to pay me is there any manner the media can discover out the place it got here from and the way a lot?”
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After Davis was pressured out of his place, Favre texted Bryant, asking how it could impression funding for the volleyball facility.
“I’ll deal with that… lengthy story however needed to make a change,” Bryant wrote. “However I’ll name Nancy and see what it’s going to take.”
Why It’s a Huge Deal
Over a four-year interval, as much as $77 million meant for the neediest households in Mississippi was as a substitute directed elsewhere. In 2019, Mississippi had a better poverty price than any state within the nation, hovering round 19.6 p.c. The nationwide common on the time was 10.5 p.c, in accordance with The Heart for American Progress.
Mississippi As we speak experiences that from 2016 to 2020, the state allotted $317 million whole in TANF funds, that means the misallocated portion accounted for almost 1 / 4 of the general quantity.
The authorized course of continues to be taking part in out, however as Davis awaits sentencing, he faces as much as 15 years in jail for his function within the scandal. New, in the meantime, faces as much as 10 years in jail and Zachary, who helped her direct the nonprofit, faces as much as 5.
What Folks Are Saying
As Favre maintains his innocence, insisting he didn’t know the place the cash was coming from and that he didn’t even know what TANF was on the time, others aren’t shopping for it.
Some NFL quarterbacks are simply as well-known for his or her lives off the sector. Three-time Tremendous Bowl champion and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, for instance, has made headlines for his household since he was drafted in 2017. Mahomes began courting his spouse, Brittany Mahomes, in highschool. Though they ended up attending separate faculties, […]
Mina Kimes, considered one of ESPN’s most outstanding soccer reporters, referred to as Favre a “shame” on the community’s standard roundtable dialogue present, Across the Horn in 2022.
“What Brett Favre did wasn’t simply silly — it was merciless,” she added by way of X. “And it tarnishes a legacy that, fairly frankly, already ought to’ve been diminished.”
Jenn Sterger, the gameday host for the Jets throughout Favre’s lone season in New York, spoke out after Favre went public together with his Parkinson’s prognosis on Tuesday, writing by way of Instagram,“I don’t want unhealthy issues on anybody, however I do know Karma by no means forgets an deal with. Think about being recognized with such a horrible illness and never having the assets to struggle it bc some Corridor-of-Fame quarterback stole it?”
Soccer followers have mourned a heartbreaking quantity of NFL stars in 2024. In February, Tony Hutson handed away at age 48, in accordance with an obituary shared on the time. No reason for loss of life was given. “Misplaced considered one of my favourite teammates and nice associates in Tony Hutson final night time,” Hutson’s former teammate Randall Godfrey wrote […]
Sterger accused Favre in 2010 of sending her inappropriate pictures and express textual content messages throughout his time with the Jets, which she says broken her repute and profession.
What’s Subsequent?
There’s rather a lot occurring directly. Davis in addition to Nancy and Zachary New are nonetheless awaiting sentencing, whereas Favre’s case is ongoing.
In the meantime, a brand new wrinkle has emerged. Bryant sued Mississippi As we speak for defamation earlier this 12 months and is now trying to maintain Anna Wolfe, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who unearthed the scandal, in contempt of court docket for not turning over her notes, emails and confidential sources that she compiled whereas reporting.
Wolfe and her editors on the paper may face jail time if they don’t comply. Her editor, Adam Ganucheau, stated he would relatively go to jail than reveal confidential sources.
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