Mississippi Supreme Court rejects Brett Favre's bid to exit welfare fraud case

NFL hall of famer Brett Favre will remain a defendant in a civil case over welfare fraud in Mississippi, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Favre is accused of being part of a scheme to redirect millions in state welfare funds toward projects backed by the powerful and politically connected. He asked to be removed from the suit earlier this year and appealed a lower court’s denial of that motion.

In total, about $77 million was improperly used from state welfare funds between 2016 and 2019, according to a 2020 state audit. 

According to the state Department of Human Services, which filed the suit, Favre orchestrated $5 million for his alma mater University of Southern Mississippi to build a volleyball arena — where his daughter played the sport at the time. 

Favre also received $1.1 million in speaking fees for speeches he never gave and a $1.7 million investment for a sports medicine company he had invested in, state attorneys allege.

He has repaid the $1.1 million in speaking fees, attorneys said.

“Favre repaid that, but he has neither repaid the $1.7 million he arranged for his drug company, Prevacus, to receive in exchange for giving Nancy New stock, nor the $5 million he orchestrated the [University of Southern Mississippi] Athletic Department to receive for a volleyball facility,” state attorneys said.

Prosecutors called Favre’s attempts to get out of the case “meritless” and an attempt to leverage his celebrity. The court doesn’t grant appeals “based on whether a defendant is famous, or on speculations about the plaintiff’s motives, or on fact disputes,” they wrote in May.

Favre has not been charged with a crime.

The welfare fraud scandal has also seeped into the 2023 reelection campaign of Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.), who is facing off against Brandon Presley (D) this November. Presley has hammered Reeves over the scandal, which occurred while he was lieutenant governor.