Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre’s SiriusXM radio show and ESPN Milwaukee show have both been suspended amid an investigation into the misallocation of federal welfare funds.
According to The New York Times, the state of Mississippi filed a lawsuit against the former Green Bay Packers quarterback and former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant for allegedly using federal welfare funds for non-welfare-related causes.
Supposedly, Favre and Bryant orchestrated a plan to funnel $5 million of federal welfare funds into the establishment of a new volleyball stadium for the University of Southern Mississippi, the NFL star’s alma mater and where his daughter played volleyball.
Furthermore, the ex-athlete was paid upwards of $1.1 million for public speaking appearances he never made. Texts exchanged between the two men were recently leaked in which Fauvre agrees to promotional matters that would actually be funneled towards building the volleyball stadium, so long as he gets a cut of the money.
“If you were to pay me,” he wrote to the politician in 2017. He then proceeded to question, “is there any way the media could find out where it came from and how much?”
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Brett Favre’s Mississippi state audit continues
Additionally, the 52-year-old former athlete is under investigation due to his business’s support of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. In March of 2020, Mississippi state auditors discovered that the Department of Human Services used $75 million of federal money needed to go to TANF. However, in some cases, the money went directly to Favre.
Per the Times, the state of Michigan claims “that the money was siphoned off for services that were often never provided and in any case, would have failed to meet both federal and state regulations governing their dispersal.
Moreover, Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald, the director of the southern regional office of the Children’s Defense Fund, further discussed the problems relating to Favre and his possible actions. Fitzgerald noted that grants awarded by governors can oftentimes lead to abuse of funds, which seems to be the case in the Favre scandal.
“There was a danger of that money becoming a slush fund well before this debacle,” she acknowledged. Specifically critiquing the Republican party representing Mississippi, she added, “They probably thought that it was funny to be using money that was supposed to go — in their minds — to people who didn’t deserve it.”
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