Brett Favre to repay state $1.1 million for speeches he never gave in MS welfare scandal

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion Ledger

Brett Favre to repay state $1.1 million for speeches he never gave in MS welfare scandal

Luke Ramseth, Mississippi Clarion Ledger Published 5:27 p.m. CT May 6, 2020 | Updated 5:53 p.m. CT May 6, 2020

Brett Favre is paying Mississippi back $1.1 million in welfare money he received for speaking engagements and other purposes, according to State Auditor Shad White.

White said the former star NFL quarterback paid his office $500,000 on Wednesday and he would "repay the remainder in installments over the next few months." The auditor said the money will eventually be sent to the Mississippi Department of Human Services for welfare-related expenditures.

Favre received funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF, in 2017 and 2018, according to a report the auditor released Monday. The money came through the Department of Human Services and a nonprofit, the Mississippi Community Education Center, or MCEC. The audit said the nonprofit paid Favre's company, Favre Enterprises, $1.1 million for appearances, promotions, autographs and speaking engagements that he didn't attend.

Auditors wrote that Favre "did not speak nor was he present for those events." They added the amount he made in the deal was "unreasonable."

"I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole," White said in a statement. "To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid."

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Read more: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2020/05/06/brett-favre-repay-1-1-m-welfare-money-auditor-says/5179600002/

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Brett Favre to repay state $1.1 million for speeches he never gave in MS welfare scandal https://clarionledger.com/story/news/2020/05/06/brett-favre-repay-1-1-m-welfare-money-auditor-says/5179600002/ via
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[Alacritous Crier]

1. Despicable. -- nt

[luvtheGWN]

21. Doesn't even know how to pronounce his last name,

FFS.

It's not Farve, it's Favrhe. (Difficult to spell phonetically but anyone who has a smattering of French will understand).

Disgusting individual from the get-go -- a phone "Christian" who gives real Christians (followers of Christ) a bad name.

[DURHAM D]

2. Hope that the person/people who stole the money from TANF

are going to jail.

[lostnfound]

3. Why wasn't this prosecuted as fraud? Nt

[SergeStorms]

19. He's a rich, famous, republican.

Nothing more needs to be said. He never would have returned the money had he not been caught.

[marble falls]

4. He wants to applaud a guy who pays back money he defrauded from the government ...

for work he didn't do. Ethics has no place in MS.

[warmfeet]

5. Warning! Dick pic.

?crop=4823,2713,x0,y318&width=3200&height=1680&fit=bounds

Whadadick!

[jpak]

6. Lock Him Up!

Felony fraud.

If he was AA and took a knee, they would have lynched him.

Yup

[maxsolomon]

7. LOL at this:

"To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid."

And you never will!

[EarthFirst]

8. Oh the troubles of not being aware where $1.1 million comes from...

It just shows up; and life goes on.

Meanwhile $1200 is meaningful amount of money to millions of Americans.

[central scrutinizer]

11. I found $1.1 million in my couch

I blame the cat. She is always bringing shit in.

[dhill926]

9. fuck 'im...

he wouldn't have done shit if he hadn't been caught...

[beachbumbob]

10. Isn't this the pure definition of fraud??

[Journeyman]

12. Wait, no one questioned it was an unreasonable sum to pay anyone for such piddly efforts? . . .

$1.1 million for appearances, promotions, autographs and speeches? And the auditors felt it was an unreasonable sum because he didn't attend or speak at the events?
Seems to me, it doesn't matter that Mr Favre didn't know where the money came from. His character is defined by his accepting money and not performing what he was paid for.

Sleazeball. Guess he had to pick up some sort of activity after football.

[PJMcK]

13. A contrary view to consider

Consider this quote in good faith:

"I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole," White said in a statement. "To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid."

Bret Favre is a very rich man. He made millions of dollars every year for decades. If his managers/agents booked dates for him, he would follow the calendar and take care of business. If the schedule changed, he wouldn't think about the fees since he had other business keeping him busy.

Unlike most of us, however, he wouldn't be receiving/cashing/accounting for the income from the speeches. In fact, I'd be very surprised if he even knew the money had arrived. As I wrote, he's a very rich man and he has professionals to take care of his finances.

If he makes good as it appears he's going to do, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

[mr_lebowski]

23. I was going to say the same ...

If you think about it, it's possible that the $1.1M was subsequently taken from Favre's account and funneled somewhere else without him ever knowing he 'had it'.

People as wealthy as Favre often just have accountants, and they pay them to worry about their money, they don't necessarily know that they have a $1M more today than they did yesterday.

Think about it ... what would the point have been for the people running this scam ... to just hand some rich ex-NFL player $1.1M ... to do nothing? To what benefit?

Either he was deep into this scam/literally a part of it ... or I'd say there's every chance that $1.1M was given to him, and then removed by someone unscrupulous within his own circle ... without his even knowing.

I'll be watching with interest to see what shakes out later.

[Demonaut]

14. caught and "good faith's" now, fuck him

does not know where 1.1 million came from?

[keithbvadu2]

15. Who approved a large payout for no result?

Who approved a large payout for no result?

Someone is his friend.

[George II]

16. "I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort"?

He got caught. He never should have accepted the payment in the first place. Giving back $1+M that he KNEW he didn't deserve is nothing to be applauded.

[Rebl2]

17. Sounds like

a typical republican to me

[C Moon]

20. He's done ads for conservative politicians in the past, so I don't think he's a good person.

[athenasatanjesus]

22. This is why Mary left him.