It’s been a rough week for Green Bay Packers quarterbacks.
With Aaron Rodgers already making news, former Green Bay QB Brett Favre made headlines this week when Mississippi Today reported on Thursday that the 51-year-old has not repaid $600,000 he received in Mississippi welfare money after promising that he would a year ago.
The repayment ties back to a 2020 audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services that discovered $94 million in “questionable spending,” $1.1 million of which was given to Favre in 2018 for multiple speaking engagements he didn’t actually attend.
When the payment to Favre from the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group whose former director was indicted for embezzling millions from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), was made public by the audit, the Hall of Famer committed to pay back the money and made an initial payment of $500,000 in May of last year.
Favre said he didn’t know the $1.1 million came from a welfare fund in a Facebook post last year.
“I have never received monies for obligations I didn’t meet,” Favre wrote. “I was unaware that the money being dispersed was paid for out of funds not intended for that purpose, and because of that I am refunding the full amount back to the state of Mississippi … I love Mississippi and I would never knowingly do anything to take away from those that need it most.”
Despite his commitment, Favre, who has not been accused of committing a crime, has not made any additional payments, a spokesperson for the auditor’s office told Mississippi Today. “Because federal authorities are still investigating the payment to Favre, no one has demanded he repay the funds. No other recipients whose payments were questioned in the audit have voluntarily refunded the money, either, the spokesperson said,” per the publication.
Favre’s longtime agent James “Bus” Cook told Mississippi Today he was unaware of his client’s promise to repay the money he received to the state. “When asked if Favre is the kind of person who does what he says he is going to do, Cook said he would expect Favre to follow through on his commitments,” per MT.
Favre, who is active on Twitter, has yet to address the non-repayment as of this writing.
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