Retired NFL star Brett Favre has started paying back $1.1 million in welfare money he received for speeches he did not show up to give, Mississippi state auditor Shad White said Wednesday. He applauded Favre's "good faith effort to make this right" and said he has seen "no records" that Favre knew welfare funds were the source of he money he was paid.
Favre, who lives in Mississippi, said on social media he "was unaware that the money being dispensed was paid for out of funds not intended for that purpose," he made "numerous ads" for the program that paid him, Families First, and he has "never received moneys for obligations I didn't meet." He also noted his charitable contributions for "underserved and underprivileged children" and said he "would certainly never do anything to take away from the children I have fought to help!"
"Families First" was a program used by two Mississippi nonprofits, Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC) and Family Resource Center of North Mississippi (FRC), at the heart of a massive public corruption investigation at Mississippi's Department of Human Services. Former DHS director John Davis and MCEC head Nancy New are among six people indicted earlier this year in a embezzlement case involving $4 million in funds for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
White released a 104-page audit of DHS on Monday detailing $94 million in questionable welfare spending, most of it from TANF. The welfare money went to buy expensive cars, hire Davis' family members, and sponsor a college baseball tournament, among other expenditures, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reports. The audit report "shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers at the Office of the State Auditor," White said in a statement. "If there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it."
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
