Brett Favre requests change in Mississippi welfare fraud case

Hall of Famer Brett Favre is asking the judge presiding over a well-publicized welfare fraud case to modify a gag order against all the involved parties, according to A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports. 

Favre asked the Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Eleanor Faye Patterson to make a change to the order so he could defend his name against the ongoing negative publicity.

Favre is an alleged benefactor of several million dollars in public assistance that were steered toward the development of a volleyball arena at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant. According to lawsuits by the state, Bryant and others directed more than $1 million to Favre for public speaking appearances and $5 million toward the development of the arena. Favre's daughter played for the school's women's volleyball team.

Anna Wolfe and her team at Mississippi Today published its Pulitzter Prize-winning investigation in April 2022, and over time, the case began to gain widespread attention across the country. This past February, Favre sued three individuals for defamation: state auditor Shad White, former Fox Sports host and fellow Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, and former NFL punter turned media personality Pat McAfee. Three months later, Patterson placed the gag order to prohibit anyone involved in the ongoing litigation from publicly talking about the case.

Per Front Office Sports, Favre's lawyer Eric D. Herschmann mentioned a May 30 interview ESPN had with White in the latest request, saying that it had undue influence when it comes to how his client has been treated: 

“This false publicity likely already has adversely affected Mr. Favre’s ability to receive a fair and impartial trial,” Herschmann wrote. “The suppression order now prevents Mr. Favre from responding to and trying to mitigate the effect of such publicity and could have the unintended consequence of further tainting the trial against Mr. Favre.” 

While Patterson placed the gag order in early May, Favre dropped his defamation lawsuit against McAfee several days later, with the former punter happily announcing the news just days before his new deal with ESPN. As for both White and Sharpe, who recently departed from "Undisputed," those defamation suits have yet to be dropped.