- Brett Favre is named in a lawsuit seeking a few million in funds after an alleged $77-million welfare scandal.
- At the center of the scandal is a Mississippi nonprofit whose founder pled guilty to misusing federal funds.
In the past two years, NFL star Brett Favre emerged as one of the many players that may have benefited from what investigators called "the largest public fraud" in Mississippi's history.
The scandal concerns a Jackson-based nonprofit, Mississippi Community Education Center, which was under a months-long investigation by state auditors who suspected it of misusing millions of dollars of welfare funds from the federal government's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Officials made six arrests in February 2020, including the nonprofit's founder Nancy New and her son Zachary New, for embezzling $4.15 million. Nancy New and Zachary pled guilty in April to charges of misusing public money and have agreed to testify against others. But the full amount of misspent funds, which was not accounted for in any criminal charges so far, has since ballooned to be at least more than $77 million, according to a 2021 press release from the state auditor's office.
Favre, who retired from the NFL in 2010, has not been accused of a crime.
But a civil lawsuit filed by the state alleges the football legend used his connections in Mississippi to help fund a company he was heavily invested in — with over $2 million that ultimately came from welfare funds meant to aid some of the state's poorest residents. Recently, according to Mississippi Today, text messages filed in the lawsuit suggest Favre also used his influence in the state to help fund a $7-million volleyball stadium with a federal grant provided by the nonprofit.
Favre's attorney Bud Holmes told Insider that his client never knew the money came from welfare funds.
Favre "has been honorable from day one," Holmes said in an interview. "He has done so much charity work — and that's all it was here."
Paid speeches
Favre's name in connection with the non-profit first publicly appeared in May 2020 when state auditors found that the Community Education Center used welfare money to pay the former Green Bay Packers quarterback $1.1 million for speeches he never gave, according to The Associated Press.
In a news release from May 6, 2020, the state auditor's office said at the time that it has seen "no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid."
Favre repeated the auditor's statement in a Twitter thread, while also stating that the money was for ads done for a separate nonprofit organization, Families First for Mississippi.
—Brett Favre (@BrettFavre) May 7, 2020
Favre paid back the state auditor's office $500,000 days after the agency discovered the payments. It took more than a year for Favre to send another $600,000 check to the office, but he has yet to repay about $300,000 in interest, Logan Reeves, a spokesperson at the auditor's office told Insider.
Holmes told Insider that Favre paid his debt and questioned why he should pay interest.
"He paid back the money," Holmes said. "Send me the documentation, show me why he would have to pay interest."
The "outside investor"
In addition to the no-show speeches, Favre was also named in an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by the state Department of Human Services — the agency responsible for dispensing TANF money to programs in Mississippi.
The NFL Hall of Famer is one of 38 defendants in the suit which aims to recoup about $24 million in welfare funds.
In a statement to Insider, Mark Jones, chief communications officer of the department, said that the dollar amount could grow pending "any further audit of (the Mississippi Community Education Center) in the future."
The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) "is working to correct the path of MDHS," Jones said. "As part of that process, MDHS has been working hard to restore trust and put in place numerous internal controls to ensure that misspending is not repeated in the future. The rest of the task involves recovering and returning to the taxpayers the millions of dollars in misspent funds which were intended to benefit Mississippi's needy families. "
The civil lawsuit, which does not contain any criminal allegations against the former football player, said Favre was the "largest individual outside investor and holder of corporate stock" in Prevacus, a biotech company, as of 2018.
It then alleged that Favre told the company's CEO Jacob W. Vanlandingham to seek financial support for Prevacus from Nancy New, the founder of Mississippi Community Education Center.
"Defendant Brett Favre urged Defendant Jason W. ("Jake") Vanlandingham, the Chief Executive Officer of Previous, to solicit Nancy New to use (Mississippi Department of Human Services) grant proceeds to invest in the stock of Prevacus, informing Vanlandingham that Nancy New had previously provided substantial grant funds on his behalf."
Vanlandingham did not return requests for comment from Insider.
The suit further alleged that, in 2019, Favre agreed to host a stock sales presentation at his Lamar County home.
The meeting was attended by the company CEO, Nancy New, and her son Zachary New, John Davis, who was the director of the Human Services department before he retired in July 2019, and Ted DiBiase, a former pro-wrestler who was hired by Davis to be a deputy administrator at the department, according to the complaint.
The latter four attendees would later be part of the February 2020 indictment for charges related to fraud and embezzlement in the welfare scandal.
In total, the lawsuit alleged that Prevacus, and its affiliate company PreSolMD, were given more than $2 million by the Mississippi Community Education Center through welfare funds and that Favre, Vandlandingham, and the companies knew "the funds they were soliciting for investments in Prevacus and PreSolMD were the result of governmental grants provided to and by MDHS."
An attorney for Mississippi Community Education Center and Nancy New declined to comment on the story.
A new volleyball stadium
As part of its sprawling investigative series into the welfare scandal, Mississippi Today reported that newly-released text messages filed in the state's ongoing civil suit appear to show Favre using his access to then-Gov. Phil Bryant to discuss financial support for a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi — Bryant's and Favre's alma mater.
Bryant's attorney William M. Quinn II told Insider that the governor met Favre through mutual friends and that the two participated in charity events.
In one text, after Favre asked Bryant how the ousting of Davis and the new DHS director might affect their plans to fund the volleyball stadium, the former governor replied in a text: "I will handle that ... long story but had to make a change. But I will call Nancy (New) and see what it will take."
Nancy New's nonprofit, in total, provided at least $5 million for the volleyball stadium using welfare money provided by the Department of Human Services while Davis was at the helm of the agency, Mississippi Today reported.
In a statement to Insider, Bryant's attorney William M. Quin II said that the former governor "was not involved in the details of (the volleyball) project and he did not know the extent of MCEC's (New's nonprofit) involvement." Bryant is not named in the lawsuit.
"This project was promoted by Southern Miss (University). Governor Bryant had no knowledge of or involvement with the $4 million payment from New," Quin wrote to Insider. "He has since learned that the $4 million payment was approved by the (Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning) and the Attorney General. Governor Bryant did not receive any information indicating wrongdoing associated with the project."
In another message, Bryant said to Nancy New, the nonprofit founder: "Just left Brett Favre. Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your project on course."
Bryant's attorney said that the message was in reference to funding "programs at the volleyball facility" — as opposed to funding for the construction — and that the "proposal was denied."
Federal laws have restrictions against states using welfare funds for the "construction, rehabilitation, and purchases of buildings," according to the Office of the Administration for Children & Families. Nancy New's son Zachary New pled guilty in April to defrauding the government in part by deliberately circumventing laws around using government grants on construction projects.
Texts also appear to show that Favre was in contact with Nancy New related to securing funds through her nonprofit.
"If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much," a text to Nancy New from Favre reads.
Nancy New replied: "No, we never have had that information publicized. I understand you being uneasy about that though."
"That is very, very typical," Favre's attorney Holmes claimed. "The lady was going to pay him, and he didn't want his business put out on the streets."
One message included as part of the legal filing suggested that the $1.1 million Favre received to promote a nonprofit program and was ordered to repay may also have been another source of funding for the stadium.
"I could record a few radio spots," Favre texted New, according to the filing that was reviewed by Mississippi Today. "…and whatever compensation could go to USM."
At no point did Favre know that the funds for the stadium were coming from the state's welfare program, according to Favre's attorney.
"He had no idea or had any reason to question" the source of funding, Holmes said, adding that all relevant parties, including lawyers from the university and the then-Attorney General James Matthew Hood, gave the "green light" for Favre's grant proposal.
A spokesperson for the university's Athletic Foundation and an attorney for Hood did not immediately return requests for comment.
In total, out of the more than $70 million in welfare funds that state auditors said were misused by the Mississippi Community Education Center, at least $8 million were spent on projects tied to Favre, according to the allegations. This includes investments in Prevacus, the volleyball stadium, and the $1.1 million direct payout to the football star.