Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: Mississippi's state auditor referred a case to the attorney general involving NFL's Brett Favre, wrestling's Ted DiBiase and others who received millions in allegedly illicit welfare funds to the state's attorney general. 1/
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On Oct. 12, Mississippi State Auditor sent Brett Favre a letter demanding that he pay the remaining $828,000 he owes to the state after he accepted $1.1 million in allegedly embezzled Temporary Assistance For Needy Families dollars to give speeches. 2/
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Mississippi's ex-Human Services director, John Davis, allegedly helped facilitate the largest welfare fraud case in history, moving millions to a non-profit run by Nancy New, who paid Favre & others for speeches.

Davis and New have since been indicted. 3/
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Neither Favre nor Ted DiBiase have been accused of criminal wrongdoing, but Auditor White demanded in October that they & the others repay all TANF funds they received by Nov. 12.

The auditor says none did so and referred the matter to AG Lynn Fitch. 4/
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The auditor’s office said recuperating the millions in welfare funds from Brett Favre, Ted DiBiase & others is now up to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office.

But she has contracted with a private attorney to handle it. 5/
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Asked why AG Fitch would hire Pigott to handle the nonpayments stemming from the DHS fraud case, the auditor's office said they did not know and that it was a question for the attorney general’s office. Fitch's office didn't answer a request for comment. 6/mississippifreepress.org/18254/mississi…

I obtained a copy of the contract Fitch signed with MDHS and Pigott Law, P.A., to handle the case involving Favre and others who received the allegedly embezzled TANF funds.

It includes no mentions of payment mechanisms or billable rates. 7/

PDF: mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/upl…

Full disclosure: Attorney Brad Pigott, whose firm Attorney General Fitch hired to handle the MDHS payments issue, has previously donated to the Mississippi Free Press. That had no influence on this reporting. 8/
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AG Fitch has had positive ties to Favre in the past. During the early pandemic era in 2020, she said she was “excited to team up with NFL and Mississippi legend Brett Favre" to produce a video to promote public health measures. 9/
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AG Fitch is far from the only Mississippi Republican with ties to Favre. The quarterback supported the former governor, Phil Bryant, and the current governor, Tate Reeves, during his 2019 campaign.

Favre’s family donated $2,500 to Reeves’ campaign. 10/
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Brett Favre represented Prevacus, a pharmaceutical company, when he brought Prevacus leaders and then-Gov. Bryant together in 2019 to discuss bringing the company to Mississippi to produce a concussion drug. 11/
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Weeks after Prevacus met with Brett Favre and Gov. Bryant, prosecutors allege that the non-profit leaders who paid Favre $1.1 million in TANF dollars, Zach and Nancy New, took $2.15 million in welfare dollars and personally invested in Prevacus. 12/
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Neither former Gov. Bryant, Brett Favre nor any Prevacus leaders have been accused by prosecutors of any wrongdoing in relation to the News' use of TANF funds for personal Prevacus investments. The News face multiple federal and state charges. 13/
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In May 2020, Brett Favre said he did know that the $1.1 million he received came from ill-gotten welfare funds and vowed to pay it back. But by October 2021, he had only paid back $500,000.

The state auditor demanded the rest plus interest on Oct. 12. 14/mississippifreepress.org/18254/mississi…

After State Auditor Shad White sent a demand letter to Brett Favre for $828,000, Favre accused him of "never ... meeting with me" and said he "has instead only repeatedly run to the media."

Favre accused White of "prioritizing sensational headlines." 15/
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“These are lies, @BrettFavre. I am not going to hide how much you were paid, why you were paid, or conduct back room meetings to make this go away,” Mississippi Auditor Shad White tweeted at Favre. ... You have met with agents who work for me." 16/
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As in the past, the Mississippi Free Press reached out to Brett Favre for comment through his agent, Bus Cook, but did not receive an answer.

If we hear back from him or from AG Lynn Fitch, we will update this story. 17/
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