Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre owes $828,000 in illegally obtained welfare funds back to the state of Mississippi, Mississippi Auditor Shad White said in a statement Wednesday.
Favre received $1.1 million in funds from two non-profits whose founder received state and federal charges for Mississippi’s largest embezzlement scheme, according to Mississippi Free Press. Even though Favre accepted the money to speak at Families First for Mississippi, one of the non-profits involved in the scheme, he did not realize the funds were illegal when he took them, according to Mississippi Free Press. He also never attended the speaking engagements, Mississippi Free Press reported.
White’s office served demands for more than $77 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds, according to the statement. Former Department of Human Services Director John Davis and vendors paid out funds to various non-profits yet failed to actually fulfill their contract work, and received the notices to return the money, the statement said. (RELATED: Brett Favre’s Grandson Thinks He’s Only Worth $33,000)
NEW: The Mississippi State Auditor is demanding that Brett Favre return $828,000 he received in “illegally spent welfare funds” that should have gone to needy families.
But Favre is not among the six facing criminal charges for the scheme.https://t.co/M2UIZCbOli
— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) October 13, 2021
“Two years ago my office audited DHS,” White said. “After two years of work, we found tens of millions of dollars in misspending. Those findings have now been confirmed, this month, by an independent forensic audit commissioned by DHS. It’s time for the taxpayers to attempt to recover what we lost.”
White announced in May 2020 that Favre returned most of the funds and acted in “good faith” because he did not realize that TANF was how he was paid, according to Mississippi Free Press. White’s letter Wednesday says that Favre must repay the rest of the funds within 30 days or face a lawsuit.