Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre keeps inching toward potential Paul Crewe status.
Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today reports that newly-revealed text messages show that former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant helped funnel federal welfare funds toward the building of a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi, at Favre’s behest. Per the report, the texts show that Bryant guided Favre on how to write a funding proposal so that it would be granted.
Favre’s lawyer, Bud Holmes, said that Favre didn’t know the money came from welfare funds.
“Brett Favre has been honorable throughout this whole thing,” Holmes said Monday.
Favre previously denied that he discussed the volleyball project with Bryant. The text messages quoted in the article indicate otherwise, suggesting that $5 million was given to the school.
The former quarterback’s involvement in the welfare scandal first emerged when it was reported that he received $1.1 million for work he allegedly didn’t perform. He eventually repaid the money. He has been sued for the interest on the money he received and returned.
In July, Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson sent a letter this month to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting that the Department of Justice investigate the situation, and that they focus on Favre and Bryant. Favre reportedly has been questioned by the FBI.
That same month, Mississippi fired a lawyer who had been hired to get to the bottom of the welfare scandal. The lawyer, Brad Pigott, claimed that the termination resulted from his effort to explore whether the $5 million had indeed been paid from federal welfare funds to the USM volleyball stadium.