Brett Favre has been the face of a Mississippi welfare scandal, and it appears the 52-year-old’s use of money for the needy didn’t stop with government funds.
From 2018-2020, Favre’s charitable foundation, Favre 4 Hope — a charity with a stated mission to support disadvantaged children and cancer patients — donated more than $130,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation during the same years Favre was working to finance a new volleyball center at the school, as reported by The Athletic’s Katie Strang and Kalyn Kahler on Wednesday.
Mississippi Today first reported on the Mississippi welfare scandal where millions of dollars for those in need were misappropriated by now former state officials, including former governor Phil Bryant.
“Favre received $1.1 million for speeches he did not make, according to a state auditor report and court documents, and was instrumental in moving more than $5 million in welfare dollars toward the building of the volleyball facility while his daughter was a player on the USM volleyball team,” Strang and Kahler reported. “He is among dozens of individuals and organizations being sued by the state. Favre paid back the $1.1 million, though the state says he still owes $228,000 in interest. He has not been charged with wrongdoing and posted on social media that he did not know where the funding for the volleyball facility came from.”
Full details of Strang and Kahler’s reporting can be read here.
The Athletic examined tax records and saw Favre 4 Hope gave thousands of dollars to USM, where Favre is an alumnus. Experts told The Athletic they were skeptical the funds were used for the charity’s stated mission.
Favre has, rightfully, received backlash for his involvement in the scandal and many are not buying his denial of his knowledge of where funding was directed to.
Former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services John Davis has pled guilty to federal fraud charges, but it looks like, for now, Favre is subject to public trial.
