Brett Favre reportedly requested welfare money to build a football facility at his alma mater in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Favre, 52, faces a civil lawsuit as state officials seek to recoup more than $20 million he allegedly received in misspent welfare funds.
Favre’s radio show “The SiriusXM Blitz With Brett Favre and Bruce Murray” on SiriusXM Radio was placed on hiatus amid the welfare fraud scandal, according to Fox News.
The retired Packers quarterback faces public scrutiny after he received $5 million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium for his daughter at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2017.
According to court documents, Favre also requested millions more in welfare funds to build an indoor practice facility for the University of Southern Mississippi’s football team.
Favre requested the funds on July 28, 2019, as he unsuccessfully tried to recruit the son of retired NFL star, Deion Sanders, to the university.
On Sept. 4, 2019, Favre sent a text message to then-Gov. Phil Bryant pressing for an additional $1.8 million to $2 million in funding for the football facility. “We are not taking No for an answer!” Favre wrote.
Bryant responded, “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.”
Favre and Bryant are alumni of the university.
Text messages included in a court filing show Favre possibly knew the funds were intended for welfare recipients in Mississippi.
Favre’s attorneys claim he wasn’t aware that the Mississippi Department of Human Services was the source of the funds.
Six people were arrested in February 2020 for their roles in the theft of $77 million in welfare funds. Several defendants have already pled guilty, including John Davis, former director of Mississippi’s welfare agency.
Davis pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple federal and state charges. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Favre and former Gov. Bryant have not been charged.
