Brett Favre Asked To Be Removed From Mississippi Welfare Corruption Lawsuit
NFL legend Brett Favre is in hot water following a welfare scandal where money meant to help the poorest Mississippi citizens was funneled to a volleyball court for his alma mater. He did this with the help of then-Republican Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant.
Now, the NFL Hall of Famer is one of 38 defendants being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services in connection to the welfare scandal. However, Favre and his lawyers are pushing back and have now asked the court to dismiss him from the lawsuit.
ESPN has obtained a copy of the legal document, and the motion read in part, "It is apparent that MDHS has sued Favre, a Mississippi and national celebrity, in an effort to deflect responsibility for its own egregious wrongdoing."
Favre's attorney, Eric D. Herschmann, added in the filing that including the athlete in the lawsuit "has had the intended effect - it has attracted national media attention to this case." He added that the lawsuit focused on "false insinuations concerning Favre's supposed involvement."
The filing also blamed the MDHS that the scandal was their fault because they allowed it to happen.
Brett Favre and the Corruption Scandal That Rocked Mississippi
The former Super Bowl-winning quarterback is part of an even bigger scandal involving former Governor Bryant, several Mississippi officials, and former WWE wrestlers Ted DiBiase and Ted DiBiase Jr.
Mississippi state audit has found that $77 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds meant to go to nonprofits to help the poorest people in America's poorest state was diverted to the state's richest and most powerful people.
Six people have been arrested so far, with five people already pleading guilty. However, Favre was not charged criminally but was named in the civil lawsuit.
According to the Associated Press, Brett Favre and several high-profile individuals and politicians are being sued by the MDHS for squandering over $20 a million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
The former Green Bay Packer superstar is a Mississippi native, growing up there and graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi.
In the scandal, he received over a million dollars in speaking fees from the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit that receives money as part of the TANF. However, he never really made any speech on the nonprofit's behalf.
Favre has reportedly already paid around $1.1 million from what he received, but state Auditor Shad White said that the former QB still owes $228,000 in interest.
Brett Favre's Other Scandals in Mississippi
Aside from being paid for doing nothing, Favre, a top outside investor in pharma company Prevacus, also funneled some money into the company worth around $2.1 million, according to Bleacher Report.
However, the biggest scandal involving him and the welfare money he used was funneling around $5 million to build a volleyball court for USM, where his daughter was playing. The scandal involved messages between the NFL legend, Nancy New, the director of the the Mississippi Community Education Center, her son Zachary New, and then-Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. These messages were sent between 2017 and 2019.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: New welfare scandal docs reveal role of Brett Favre's venture - CBS Evening News
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