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For months stories have been circulating that the millions of dollars that former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre was knowingly involved in an illegal effort to divert money from a Mississippi welfare fund to the athletic department at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Now Favre is speaking out and denying he had any knowledge of where the funds he was receiving were coming from.
Favre helped raise five million dollars to fund a volleyball wellness center for the university his daughter was attending. But prosecutors say that the money was illegally diverted through the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC) from Mississippi’s federal welfare program, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare fund.
The MCEC’s director, Nancy New, has already been indicted for her part in illegally diverting the TANF funds to non-welfare use, but text messages entered into a court proceeding show that Miss. Gov. Phil Bryant and Favre had spoken to each other on numerous occasions about the money being donated to the university.
The case has far-reaching consequences. While neither Gov. Bryant nor Favre have been charged with any wrongdoing, New and her son, along with former Mississippi welfare director John Davis have all been convicted on charges stemming from the fraud and each has begun working with prosecutors to indict more people.
As for Favre, he is denying the whole thing.
“I have been unjustly smeared in the media,” Favre told Fox News Digital. “I have done nothing wrong, and it is past time to set the record straight.
“No one ever told me, and I did not know, that funds designated for welfare recipients were going to the university or me.
