Source: Michael Owens / Getty
Brett Favre’s Mississippi welfare debacle continues as the former NFL quarterback is refusing to turn over his tax returns to the court.
According to Front Office Sports, Favre has ignored subpoenas issued in the civil case, which seek his tax filings. Attorneys for the Mississippi Department of Human Services have made multiple requests to a judge to compel Favre to comply with the subpoenas.
“MDHS has propounded a total of twenty-seven requests for production to Favre,” MDHS lawyers wrote in the Monday filing. “Favre has raised multiple objections to every request.”
The 27 subpoenas also include texts and emails Favre exchanged with others named in the alleged welfare scheme.
Last year, an auditor revealed that $70 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare funds were dished out to a multimillionaire athlete, a professional wrestler, a horse farm, and a volleyball complex.
One of those recipients of the welfare money was none other than Hall Of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.
From $70 million, $8.1 million was allegedly given to entities tied to Brett Favre. According to reports, Favre was paid $1.1 million in federal welfare funds in 2017 and 2018 for motivational speeches he allegedly never gave.
Text messages were then released that suggested former Gov. Phil Bryant helped channel at least $5 million of the state’s welfare funds into a volleyball stadium project for Brett Favre and the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre’s daughter plays volleyball for the university, and he received most of the fundraising credit for the project.
Brett Favre, who is among 40 civil case defendants, has denied any wrongdoing, alleging he did not know the money was from TANF funds. But, one of the text exchanges especially contradicts Favre’s claims about the TANF money.
“If you were to pay me is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much?” Favre asked Nancy New, the nonprofit leader who pleaded guilty last year to to state charges of misusing public money. New responded saying, “No, we never had that information publicized.”
Favre has not been criminally charged on the state or federal level.
No trial date in the civil case has been set, and Favre is due back in court to be deposed Dec. 11.
Mississippi is the poorest state in the union; 18.8% of its residents live at or below the poverty line. The state also boasts the highest child poverty rate, with 27.9% of its under-18 population meeting federal poverty guidelines.
Sadly, 33.8% of the state’s Black population lives below the poverty line, and the state’s biggest city, Jackson, has been engulfed in a water crisis for decades.
When $70 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare funds are taken away from Black families in need, the effects can be disastrous.
The majority of Mississippi’s welfare recipients are also Black. According to Statistical Atlas, Black and brown people make up 59% of Mississippi’s food stamp recipients.
SEE ALSO:
Brett Favre Set To Testify In Deposition About Involvement In Mississippi Welfare Scandal
What Brett Favre’s Welfare Scandal Means For Black People In Mississippi
