Brett Favre Foundation under scrutiny as ex-QB caught up in Mississippi welfare scandal: reports

The alleged role of Brett Favre In the Mississippi welfare scandal, it took another turn Wednesday night.

Favre’s charity, Favre 4 Hope, has donated over $130,000 to University of Southern Mississippi Sports organization from 2018 to 2020 according to multiple reports.

The findings reported in tax records came days after transcripts revealed former Governor Phil Bryant sent a text message in 2019 with Favre about obtaining additional funds for an in-house training facility for the University of Southern Mississippi football team. Bryant told him that federal funds for children and low-income adults are “strictly controlled” and “improper use may violate federal law.”

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The Favre 4 Hope Foundation, which “supports charities that provide support for disadvantaged children, the disabled, and breast cancer patients,” gave the school’s athletic foundation $60,000 and, in 2019, gave just over $26,175, according to multiple reports. Between 2011 and 2017, the foundation reportedly gave nearly $48,000, as well as giving his daughter’s high school $70,000 between 2013 and 2015.

“He’s been very generous with Miss Southern since he played ball there,” Bud Holmes, Favre’s attorney, told ESPN. “Those very things [the donations in question] I don’t know, but I know he always gave the favour, which is something most athletes don’t do.”

Text messages between Bryant and Favre were filed in court documents by the former governor’s attorney, which seek to show that Bryant was willing to help Favre raise private money for the volleyball facility in 2017 and was unaware that more than two years of state welfare money He was heading towards the project.

Favre’s request for funds from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, submitted on July 28, 2019, to fund the football facility, went nowhere. Favre played college football for the Southern Miss, and his daughter played volleyball at school in 2017.

Brett Favre hits his drive on the 12th hole during the first round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation held at the Thornblade Club on June 6, 2019 in Greer, South Carolina.
(Michael Cohen/Getty Images)

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Court papers suggested that Bryant first learned that Favre was trying to raise money for a volleyball arena on April 20, 2017. The transcripts showed Favre had asked Bryant for her “leverage to obtain donations or sponsorship of ships”. Bryant replied, it was “all in” the volleyball facility.

In July 2017, Favre texted Bryant about the facility again asking if the then-governor knew of anyone who would build it for free.

“It is important to note that in these early text messages, Favre never mentioned using public funds, let alone using TANF funds to build the facility,” Bryant’s attorney wrote on Friday. “At this time, discussions between Favre and Governor Bryant have focused on private donations and corporate sponsorship.”

the athlete I first reported on the Favre Foundation’s donations.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer is under investigation amid a welfare scandal. He received $1.1 million for an appearance and speaking fee he allegedly never received, according to the state auditor. He paid the money, but the state is still seeking $228,000 in unpaid interest.

Governor Phil Bryant talks about his legacy after a life of public service in his office at the State Capitol in Jackson, Mississippi, on January 8, 2020.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, file)

Wasn’t Favre criminally charged.

John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, pleaded guilty last week to federal and state criminal charges in conspiracy to misspend welfare money. Bryant appointed Davis to the position in February 2016 and fired him in July 2019. Davis agreed to testify against others.

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Lawyers for the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit run by Nancy New and Zachary New, sent a subpoena to Bryant in late July to seek contact between Bryant and Favre. The News pleaded guilty to charges of misusing welfare funds and agreed to testify against others.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.