What happened to Brett Favre? NFL legend questioned by FBI for $70 M welfare case fraud

According to a report, the FBI has questioned former Green Bay Packers star and NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre regarding his alleged involvement in a welfare fraud case in Mississippi in which Favre allegedly received $1.1 million for motivational talks that he never delivered.

A broader scandal involving the payment of $70 million to Favre, a professional wrestler, a horse farm, and a volleyball complex involved the money that was allegedly given to Favre in 2017 and 2018 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare fund.

A defendant in the complaint claims that former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant directed the payment of the funds to Favre. Bryant has asserted that he was unaware that the funds originated from welfare.

According to NBC News, Favre has paid back the money but not the $228,000 in interest that a Mississippi state auditor demanded. He has also not been charged or accused of any crimes.

The FBI spoke with Favre about the case, according to Budd Holmes, Favre’s attorney, which was previously unknown. In a series of tweets in October 2021, Favre defended himself, claiming that he had no idea the funds he had taken came from TANF and that he had mistakenly believed he had been compensated for his three years of commercial appearances.

The statement Favre made on Twitter said, “I am doing everything I can to support this inquiry to put things right for the people of Mississippi and I have disclosed all that I know, which is that I got paid for three years of advertising that I did, and I paid taxes on the money, as I should.”

“Of course, the money was returned since I would never knowingly take money intended to assist our neighbors in need, but I cannot remain silent about Shad White continuing to spread this falsehood that the money was for no-show events.”

According to NBC News, White, the state auditor, was the one who initially found the fraud and misappropriation of funds.

The state welfare department sacked the state attorney in charge of recovering the funds in July shortly after serving a subpoena for additional information regarding Bryant and Favre’s involvement. Republican Tate Reeves, the current governor of Mississippi, has acknowledged having a hand in the choice to remove Brad Pigott as an attorney. Pigott was charged with having a political agenda by Reeves.

Additionally, according to reports, Favre requested a $3.2 million grant for a pharmaceutical firm that he owns a stake in and a $5 million award for a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi.

“All of it remains quite a mystery,” Pigott said in an interview with NBC News, “as to why Mr. Favre would benefit from millions of dollars in TANF welfare money, both for a fee for speeches he didn’t make, $2 million or more to go to a company in which he was the largest outside individual investor, and $5 million for his alma mater to play volleyball in a volleyball building.”

According to Holmes, Favre did nothing wrong and was not aware that the funds originated from a welfare fund.

 

More NFL news:

Follow our NFL page for more key NFL updates and news