CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Mississippi wasted welfare funds on Brett Favre speeches he never made

Bob Brigham
September 01, 2022

Brett Favre / Shutterstock.

With schools closed in Jackson and water out at the Mississippi state Capitol, the state is struggling through a different scandal about broken government services.

"Brett Favre earned nearly $140 million as a star NFL quarterback over two decades and millions more in product endorsements," NBC News reported. "But that didn’t stop the state of Mississippi from paying Favre $1.1 million in 2017 and 2018 to make motivational speeches — out of federal welfare funds intended for needy families. The Mississippi state auditor said Favre never gave the speeches and demanded the money back, with interest."

The payment was reportedly directed by former GOP Gov. Phil Bryant.

"Favre has repaid the fees, although not the $228,000 in interest the auditor also demanded," NBC News reported. "But the revelation by the auditor that $70 million in TANF welfare funds was doled out to a multimillionaire athlete, a professional wrestler, a horse farm and a volleyball complex are at the heart of a scandal that has rocked the nation’s poorest state, sparking parallel state and federal criminal investigations that have led to charges and guilty pleas involving some of the key players."

Favre's lawyer, Bud Holmes, revealed the former NFL quarterback had been interviewed by the FBI.

"The speeches aren’t the only welfare grants tied to Favre. Text messages obtained by the website Mississippi Today and authenticated by [Brad] Pigott show that Favre sought a $3.2 million grant to a drug company in which he was a shareholder and a $5 million award that built a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter played the sport and where he played football," NBC News reported.

Favre golfed with Donald Trump when he was president and went on to endorse his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid.