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New “never-reported” text messages have been released that Mississippi State Auditor Shad White claims show Brett Favre knew he was receiving misappropriated welfare funds from the state of Mississippi.
“Will the public perception be that I became a spokesperson for various state funded shelters, schools, homes, etc. … and was compensated with state money?” Brett Favre asked Nancy New in one of the text messages included in a new legal filing by the State of Mississippi. “Or can we keep this confidential.”
Nancy New, the former executive director of the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, pled guilty to federal and state charges of of bribery, fraud against the government, and mail fraud last April.
Favre allegedly received money from a federal program aimed at helping families living below the poverty line. The money was allegedly used to help fund a volleyball stadium and build a football facility at Southern Mississippi University, fund new concussion drugs that reportedly don’t even work, and pay him for public appearances that he reportedly never made.
The public already knew Favre knew he was receiving public money.
But the new texts make it clear Favre knew he was receiving “grant” money intended to benefit people in “state funded shelters, schools, homes, etc.” In other words, the poor.
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— Shad White (@shadwhite) March 21, 2023
“Surprise him with a vehicle. … We could get him a Raptor,” Favre wrote in a January 2019 text, referring to John Davis, the former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
Davis pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds in September.
The point is that there are multiple exchanges where Favre stressed the need for secrecy. National news has talked about how Favre said in one text that he didn’t want the media to find out. This wasn’t a one-off, transient thought, though. He said it repeatedly.
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— Shad White (@shadwhite) March 21, 2023
Money for Brett Favre’s pet projects allegedly came from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
“I believe if it’s possible she and John Davis would use federal grant money for Prevacus,” Favre said in a December 2018 text to Jake Vanlandingham, the president of Prevacus, who created and manufactured the new concussion drugs which never made it to market.
According to Front Office Sports…
TANF funds can’t be used for brick-and-mortar construction. However, MDHS alleged Favre “sought to secretly obtain those funds for that purpose anyway” after he entered into a handshake deal with USM Athletic Foundation to build the volleyball center in April 2017. Favre’s daughter played the sport at the school at the time.
The $5 million was accepted by the USM Athletic Foundation, which is also a defendant in the lawsuit. In a previously released text from July 2017 as part of the civil case, Favre wrote that then-USM Jon Gilbert was “very Leary [sic] of accepting such a large grant.”
After the speeches and the USM volleyball complex, a pharmaceutical company Favre backed also got some help via Davis and New.
He’d been told the funds could not be spent on “brick and mortar” facilities like a volleyball court. And he asked New if washing grant money through Favre Enterprises would “solve the brick and mortar issue.” She said yes.
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— Shad White (@shadwhite) March 21, 2023
“Favre knew that grant funds could not be used for brick and mortar construction, but he sought to secretly obtain these funds for that purpose anyway,” reads the new legal filing.
It will certainly interesting to see how much of this evidence is used in Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe’s defense against the defamation lawsuits Brett Favre filed against them.
Shad White, who is also being sued by Favre for defamation, also tweeted on Tuesday, “Bear in mind, this is the guy suing me for defamation for having the temerity to tell taxpayers the truth: that Favre knew he was being paid in public funds and he knows this was a sham.”
UPDATE: “Brett Favre has spent his life helping the citizens of Mississippi,” a spokesman for Favre said in an email. “Shad White should learn from Brett. Shad needs to stop attacking Brett to try to further his political career and instead focus on doing his job. We look forward to winning this defamation case.”