The Mississippi Department of Human Services is suing 38 people or companies, including retired NFL Hall of Fame defender Brett Favre, for misappropriating millions in welfare money to help the country’s poorest state, according to numerous reports.
The Hinds District Court lawsuit seeks to recover more than $ 20 million in cash, which the defendants say was “wasted” by the temporary anti-poverty assistance program for families in need.
“I don’t understand these people,” attorney Brad Pigot, who wrote the case, told Mississippi Today. “Who would have thought that the money the law requires to be spent to help the poorest people in the poorest state would be better spent spending it on their own families, their own pet projects. and their own favorite celebrities? ”
The lawsuit was filed just weeks after the duo of mother and son Nancy New, 69, and Zachary New, 39, pleaded guilty to abuse. The duo agreed to testify against others in a corruption case that auditor Shad White said was the largest in Mississippi in two decades.
They ran a nonprofit group and an educational company in the state that received tens of millions of dollars under contracts with the Mississippi Department of Human Services; however, much of the money was illegally directed to other non-profit organizations or contractors considered recipients of the department’s “second tier,” the paper said.
Brad Pigot, a lawyer involved in the case, is angry that Brett Favre and others have squandered millions of social money. AP Photo / Rogelio V. Solis
Part of the welfare money was spent on drug rehabilitation in California of former professional wrestler Brett DiBias. He was named as defendant in the case, along with his father and brother, Ted DiBiase Jr. and Ted Teddy DiBiase Jr.
In 2020, Nancy and Zachary, along with former Mississippi Human Services chief executive John Davis and three others, were indicted in state court for the abuse.
Last year, White demanded $ 77 million in improperly spent social funds, including $ 1.1 million, paid to Favre, who lives in Mississippi and has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
Auditor Shad White accused Brett Favre of being paid for speeches and failing to appear. Photo by Hannah Fosslien / Getty Images
White accused Favre of being paid for his speeches and not showing up. Favre said he was unaware that the money came from social funds and noted that his charity had donated millions in cash to help children in poverty in Mississippi and Wisconsin.
Monday’s lawsuit claims Favre was once the largest outside investor and shareholder in the Florida-based company Prevacus, which was trying to develop a cure for concussion. The lawsuit claims that in December 2018, Favre hoped that Prevacus CEO Jake Van Landingham would ask Nancy to use the welfare money to invest in the company.
Brett DiBiase and five others were charged and arrested for allegedly embezzling millions of federal money intended for the poor through an investigation by the Mississippi Auditor General’s office. Hind County Detention Center via AP
In January 2019, Favre hosted a presentation on the sale of Prevacus shares at his home, which was attended by many of the defendants, where an agreement was reached to spend “significant” social assistance money on Prevacus and its corporate subsidiary PreSolMD Inc.
The lawsuit alleges that the shares were in the names of Nancy and Zack, but were also for the financial benefit of Favre, VanLandingham and the two companies. It requires the payment of $ 2.1 million in social assistance funds that were wrongfully paid to both companies in the same year.
Longtime Favre agent James “Bus” Cook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The expected submission comes months after the audit firm submitted requests for the return of the illegally spent funds to the chief prosecutor.
“I applaud the team that is filing this lawsuit and I am grateful that the state is taking another step toward fairness for taxpayers,” White said. “We will continue to work with our federal partners – who have been given access to all our evidence for more than two years – to make sure the case is fully investigated.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Gov. Tate Reeves said in a joint statement Monday: “Our goal in this lawsuit is to seek justice for the broken trust of the Mississippi people and to recover funds that have been misused.” Sponsored
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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