Brett Favre's $1.1 million no-show speeches paid by alleged welfare embezzlement scheme

A non-profit group in Mississippi that was involved in an embezzling scheme used $1.1 million of federal welfare money to pay former NFL quarterback Brett Favre for speaking engagements. However, according to the state auditor, Favre did not show up to speak.

Favre's payments came to light as a result of an audit of the Mississippi Department of Human Services which revealed $94 million in "questionable spending" by the DHS, which indicates "payments for sports activities with no clear connection to helping needy people in one of the poorest states of the U.S." State Auditor Shad White said the audit of DHS “shows the most egregious misspending my staff have seen in their careers.”

“If there was a way to misspend money, it seems DHS leadership or their grantees thought of it and tried it,” White said Monday.

Payments to Favre were made by the Mississippi Community Education Center, a group that had been allowed to spend money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program due to contracts with the DHS. According to the audit, Favre Enterprise was paid $500,000 in December 2017 and an additional $600,000 in June 2018.

The Hall of Fame quarterback was supposed to make speeches at three events but the auditor's report says that “upon a cursory review of those dates, auditors were able to determine that the individual contracted did not speak nor was he present for those events.”

Favre faces no criminal charges. According to White, the payments to Favre were listed as "questioned" costs, meaning that “auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent.”

The Associated Press texted Favre questions on Monday and left a message for his agent Bus Cook. Favre did not immediately respond.