Mississippi is dropping its $1.1 million claim against Brett Favre but is making a new one of up to $5.5 million

The department dropped its $1.1 million claim against Favre, acknowledging that he has already repaid that money for an unfulfilled promise of public speaking. But it launched a new claim of up to $5 million against Favre and a university athletic foundation, saying money from an anti-poverty program was misused to pay for a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi.

The volleyball facility was a pet project of Favre, and he promised to lead the fundraiser for it. Earlier filings in the civil lawsuit show text messages exchanged between Favre and others about the routing of funds to the volleyball facility from a nonprofit organization that had human services contracts. But as of Monday, the Human Services lawsuit had not attempted to recover money for the facility.

Favre is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, and his daughter started playing volleyball at the Hattiesburg School in 2017. The volleyball facility, also known as the wellness center, was completed at the end of 2019.

In a court filing Monday, the Department of Human Services confirmed that Favre has already repaid $1.1 million he received from the Mississippi Community Education Center. The non-profit organization had contracts with the department to spend money through the poverty alleviation program, Temporary Help for Needy Families.

The organization paid Favre to make public speeches to raise money for the volleyball facility, but the state inspector said Favre did not make the speeches. The Department of Human Services court filing on Monday said that for that $1.1 million, Favre “may have recorded a single 20-second radio commercial.”

“In 2020, Favre received a subpoena from the Office of State Auditor requesting that the $1.1 million be repaid with interest,” the new Human Services court filing reads. “Favre recognized that he had no right to be paid for services that were never provided with funds to families in need and repaid the $1.1 million to the state.”

Auditor Shad White said last week that Favre still owed more than $200,000 in interest on the $1.1 million.

The Human Services Court motion, filed Monday, said Favre failed to repay $5 million in TANF funds “that he orchestrated” to have the Mississippi Community Education Center pay to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation to fulfill its guarantee to finance the construction of a varsity volleyball facility.

The directors of the Mississippi Community Education Center are Nancy New and her son, Zachary New. They were both on the board of directors of the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, as was Favre.

John Davis, who was director of the Department of Human Services from 2016 to 2019, agreed to enter into a sham lease with Nancy New and Zachary New to use Social Fund funds to build the volleyball facility, new court filings say.

Favre’s attorney Eric Herschmann said in a statement Monday that the department’s new $5 million demand against Favre was unfounded. Herschmann said the department omitted important facts, including that the Mississippi attorney general’s office signed the transfer of funds from the Department of Human Services to the University of Southern Mississippi “all with the full knowledge and consent” of the then governor. Phil Bryant and other state officials.

“There is no basis for a private individual like non-attorney Brett Favre to be held liable in these circumstances,” Herschmann said.

Davis pleaded guilty in September to state and federal charges related to the misappropriation of welfare benefits in Mississippi’s largest public corruption case in decades. Nancy New and Zachary New pleaded guilty in April to charges of misappropriation of welfare funds. All three are awaiting sentencing and have agreed to testify against others.

In a Nov. 28 court filing, Favre’s attorney asked a judge to release Favre from the Human Services lawsuit seeking to recover millions of dollars in misinvested welfare funds. The judge did not comply with this request.

Favre grew up in Mississippi and played football at the University of Southern Mississippi before beginning a long career with the Green Bay Packers that included a Super Bowl XXXI win. He was traded to the New York Jets in 2008 and played there for a year before playing his final two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.

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