Brett Favre might not ever escape the dark cloud of what has been uncovered in a massive Mississippi welfare scandal.
After Mississippi spent millions of dollars in welfare money on Brett Favre’s project to get a university volleyball arena, the retired NFL quarterback tried two years later to get funds from the state’s welfare agency for another sports facility, new court documents show.
Former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant’s attorneys say text messages show that Favre reached out to Bryant again in 2019 regarding financing a potential indoor practice facility at his alma mater after he already taken around $5 million for the volleyball arena. Bryant reportedly told Favre federal money for children and low-income adults is “tightly controlled” and “improper use could result in violation of Federal Law.”
“Text messages between Bryant and Favre are in court documents filed Friday by Bryant’s lawyers, which seek to show the governor was willing to help Favre raise private money for the volleyball facility starting in 2017 and was unaware for more than two years that welfare money was going to the project.
Favre made the request July 28, 2019, as he was unsuccessfully trying to recruit the son of another retired NFL player, Deion Sanders, to the university in Hattiesburg.
Favre wrote to Bryant that having an indoor practice facility would give the football program “instant credibility.”
Favre told Bryant via text: “We obviously need your help big time and time is working against us. And we feel that your name is the perfect choice for this facility and we are not taking No for an answer! You are a Southern Miss Alumni, and folks need to know you are also a supporter of the University.”
Bryant responded with caution, saying, “We are going to get there. This was a great meeting. But we have to follow the law. I am to[o] old for Federal Prison.”
Former Mississippi Department of Human Services director John Davis pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the State of Mississippi out of more than $70 million in federal funds on Thursday.
Brett Favre, who retired as the NFL’s all-time leading passer in 2010, has been listed as a defendant in a lawsuit by the state of Mississippi over misspent welfare money.
