Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre will face questions at an upcoming congressional hearing about the need for welfare reform amid his alleged misuse of Mississippi welfare funds, according to a new report from ESPN. Favre, 54, has been at the center of a multimillion-dollar welfare scandal in recent years in his home state of Mississippi.
The Mississippi Department of Human Services named the longtime Green Bay Packers quarterback and 40 others in a 2023 lawsuit seeking to recover some misspent welfare funds.
The lawsuit comes after an investigation by state auditor Shad White found that about $77 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds from 2016 to 2019 went to projects run by Favre and others instead of to needy families, the report said. were the Associated Press and NBC News last year.
Favre has denied the allegations, which include an allegation that he and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant planned to divert at least $5 million in TANF funds to help build a volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, his alma mater and the school his daughter attended at the time. played volleyball.
Brett Favre will be fired because of the welfare scandal in Mississippi
Brett Favre.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images
AND Mississippi today last year’s report included text messages Favre allegedly wrote that implicated him in the scheme.
In one text message, filed as part of Mississippi’s lawsuit over TANF funds, Favre allegedly wrote, “If you were to pay me, could the media even find out where it came from and how much?”
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Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre allegedly used welfare funds for a college volleyball stadium
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Brett Favre.
Brett Favre/Instagram
ESPN reports that Favre will testify during an upcoming House Ways and Means Committee hearing titled “Reforming Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): State abuse of welfare funds is leaving poor families behind,” next Tuesday.
White, the Mississippi state auditor who launched the investigation into Favre and dozens of others, said the three-time NFL MVP also received $1.1 million in state funding for motivational speeches he never actually gave.
Favre said he paid off the debt, PEOPLE previously reported, but the state auditor says the retired quarterback still owes $228,000 in interest.
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