Former NFL and Southern Miss quarterback Brett Favre was implicated in the Mississippi welfare fraud case in 2022. Now, he’s set to be questioned under oath about it.
The Mississippi welfare fraud case involved several well-connected and powerful people within the state spending $77 million that was designated to be used for welfare between 2016 and 2019. Among the people who have been accused of benefiting from the fraud is Brett Favre.
Reportedly, Favre had $5 million of those funds sent to his alma mater, Southern Miss, to build a volleyball facility. A state audit also said that he received $1.1 million for speeches he didn’t give. Since then, he has paid the money back but the state auditor is reportedly demanding $228,000 in interest.
Importantly, Brett Favre denies any wrongdoing. He also has not been criminally charged. However, he is one of several defendants in a civil lawsuit over the scandal.
Later this month, Favre is going to go under deposition. At that time, he’ll be under oath in regards to his involvement in the case. It’s a risky position to be in because he could potentially be charged with perjury if he’s caught in a lie or he may end up needing to acknowledge his role.
His lawyers have also said that he won’t take the Fifth Amendment, which guarantees the right against self-incrimination. However, because this is a civil case, it would be very hard to mount a defense after using it.
Over the summer, Brett Favre made an attempt to get his name removed from the civil lawsuit. However, that was unsuccessful at every level of the court in Mississippi. That includes the state supreme court.
In the past, Favre has been accused of withholding evidence in this case. There are also text messages where he discusses the funds that would be spent. So, he will need to be careful while being questioned and listen to his lawyers. Otherwise, he runs the risk of getting himself into even more trouble over this case.
Brett Favre can’t speak about the scandal on his show
Brett Favre is on TV with his appearances on Jason Whitlock’s weekly show “Fearless” on The Blaze. However, he is not allowed to speak about the Mississippi welfare scandal on the show. That’s because a gag order was put in place.
Favre’s attorneys asked for that order to be lifted, arguing that he needed to speak on the case for an impartial trial.
“This false publicity likely already has adversely affected Mr. Favre’s ability to receive a fair and impartial trial,” one of Favre’s lawyers 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.”
Despite that, the court decided to leave the gag order over Brett Favre, including on his show.
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