Mississippi wasted welfare funds on Brett Favre speeches he never made [View all]

Bob Brigham
September 01, 2022

With schools closed in Jackson and water out at the Mississippi state Capitol, the state is struggling through a different scandal about broken government services.

"Brett Favre earned nearly $140 million as a star NFL quarterback over two decades and millions more in product endorsements," NBC News reported. "But that didn’t stop the state of Mississippi from paying Favre $1.1 million in 2017 and 2018 to make motivational speeches — out of federal welfare funds intended for needy families. The Mississippi state auditor said Favre never gave the speeches and demanded the money back, with interest."

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"Favre has repaid the fees, although not the $228,000 in interest the auditor also demanded," NBC News reported. "But the revelation by the auditor that $70 million in TANF welfare funds was doled out to a multimillionaire athlete, a professional wrestler, a horse farm and a volleyball complex are at the heart of a scandal that has rocked the nation’s poorest state, sparking parallel state and federal criminal investigations that have led to charges and guilty pleas involving some of the key players."

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Favre golfed with Donald Trump when he was president and went on to endorse his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid.

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