Brett Favre files defamation lawsuits over allegations of misuse of Mississippi welfare funds

Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre filed lawsuits in Mississippi on Thursday accusing a state auditor and two sportscasters of defaming him in public discussions about the misappropriation of benefits meant to help some of the poorest people in one of the nation’s poorest states.

The lawsuit against auditor Shad White says the Republican “led an outrageous media campaign of malicious and false accusations against Brett Favre — a Hall of Fame quarterback and Mississippi native — in a brazen attempt to exploit the media attention generated by Favre’s celebrity. to advance their own political career.”

Favre has no criminal charges in the Mississippi welfare scandal, but he is among more than three dozen people or businesses the state is suing in an effort to recover wasted money through a temporary assistance program for needy families.

Favre also filed separate lawsuits against former NFL tight end Shannon Sharp and former NFL player Pat McAfee, both of whom are media personalities. Sharp hosts the sports talk show Skip and Shannon: Undisputed on Fox Sports 1, and McAfee is an NFL analyst and host of the popular podcast The Pat McAfee Show 2.0.

The lawsuit states that on his Fox show, Sharpe said that Favre “took money from the undeserved” and “stole money from people who really needed the money.”

According to the lawsuit, on his podcast, McAfee called Favre a “thief” who “stole from the poor in Mississippi.”

Favre’s lawsuits allege that Sharp’s and McAfee’s claims are “outrageous lies”.

Last October, Favre released a statement saying he was “unfairly vilified in the media and did nothing wrong.”

In the same month, CBS News obtained promotional documents showing that in January 2019, Favre hosted Mississippi officials at his home, where an executive from a pharmaceutical company in which Favre invested requested nearly $2 million in state welfare funds.

Favre returned the $1.1 million he received in speaking fees from a non-profit group that spent TANF money with approval from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. White, the state auditor, said Favre never gave a speech.

In December, the state’s Department of Human Services issued a new claim of up to $5 million against Favre and the university’s athletic fund, alleging that social welfare funds were improperly used to pay for a volleyball arena at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.

Daughter Favre started playing volleyball at university in 2017. The volleyball court was the former quarterback’s favorite project, and he promised to spearhead fundraising for it. Previous documents on the state’s civil lawsuit show text messages between Favre and others about funneling money to a volleyball court from a non-profit organization that had social service contracts.

The suit, which Favre filed against the auditor on Thursday, accuses White of “shamelessly and falsely attacking Favre’s good name” to gain attention, “including appearances on CNN and HBO television shows, on the popular ESPN podcast, and in interviews for print and online. None of these national media would have paid the slightest attention to White if he had not attacked Favre.”

Fletcher Freeman, a spokesman for White, said in a statement: “Everything Auditor White said about this case is true and backed up by years of audit work by professionals from the Government Audit Office. Favre wants to have a trial on this matter.”

Freeman also said that Favre called White and the auditor’s team liars, despite the fact that he paid back some of the money the auditor’s office demanded from him.

“He capitalized on wasted funds,” Freeman said. “Instead of paying New York lawyers to handle this case, he would have been better off paying off the full amount of social funds he owes the state.”

CBS News has reached out to representatives from Sharpe and McAfee for comment.

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