Will the Real ‘Welfare Queen’ Please Stand Up?: NFL Legend Brett Favre Owes Over $800K to Mississippi State for ‘Illegally Spent Welfare Funds’
Can you imagine what we would find if someone dug into Brett Favre’s emails? The same Brett Favre who was lightly chastised for sending a picture of his Magic Johnson to a female reporter/Playboy model Jenn Sterger.
The same Brett Favre who is a fierce MAGA and Donald Trump supporter.
He’s also made more than $141M over the course of his NFL career, which makes his latest involvement in a widespread welfare fraud operation even more embarrassing.
Former NFL quarterback Brett Farve is facing a possible lawsuit for unpaid “illegally spent welfare funds” from Mississippi state. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Misspent Funds
According to reports, the former Green Bay Packers quarterback was one of several recipients of letters from the Mississippi auditor’s office demanding repayment of misspent funds from the federal government’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, according to Mississippi Today’s Anna Wolfe.
Favre reportedly received $1.1 million of those funds for sham appearances. After being caught, Favre immediately repaid $500K and agreed to give the rest back in installments.
The state of Mississippi, which has not pressed charges against Favre, notified him of his potential crimes a year ago, and he has not repaid the final $600,000.
Now the Hall of Fame quarterback is facing a civil suit which requires that he pay the $600K plus the interest on payments made to him in 2017 and 2018. All of those violations combined cost over $800K.
Favre’s entanglement (to quote Jada Pinkett Smith) in this scheme isn’t as clear-cut as it appears.
According to a vox.com article, which dug inside the legacy of Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform: “Welfare reform didn’t just turn AFDC into a block-granted program; it also gave states huge amounts of flexibility in how to use that money. and because there’s little in the way of incentives for states to use it for actual cash assistance, or even work programs, it’s being plundered for use in barely related pursuits, like administration of the child protection system.
To find out more about how Brett Favre could get caught up in the largest welfare fraud case in Mississippi history click here