Brett Favre files defamation lawsuits over accusations of misspent Mississippi welfare funds
Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre filed lawsuits Thursday in Mississippi, accusing the state auditor and two sportscasters of defaming him in public discussions about the misspending of welfare money that was supposed to help some of the poorest people in one of the poorest states in the nation.
The lawsuit against Auditor Shad White says the Republican "has carried out an outrageous media campaign of malicious and false accusations against Brett Favre — the Hall of Fame quarterback and native son of Mississippi — in a brazen attempt to leverage the media attention generated by Favre's celebrity to further his own political career."
Favre is not facing criminal charges in the Mississippi welfare scandal, but he is among more than three dozen people or businesses the state is suing to try to recover misspent money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
Favre also filed separate lawsuits against former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe and former NFL punter Pat McAfee, both of whom are media personalities. Sharpe hosts the sports talk show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" on Fox Sports 1, while McAfee is an NFL analyst and hosts a popular podcast, "The Pat McAfee Show 2.0."
On his Fox show, the lawsuit states, Sharpe said that Favre "was taking from the undeserved" and "stole money from people that really needed the money."
On his podcast, McAfee called Favre a "thief" who was "stealing from poor people in Mississippi," according to that lawsuit.
Favre's lawsuits allege the statements from both Sharpe and McAfee are "outrageous falsehoods."
Favre released a statement last October in which he claimed he had been "unjustly smeared in the media and had done nothing wrong."
That same month, CBS News obtained pitch documents that showed Favre hosted Mississippi officials at his home in January 2019, where an executive for a pharmaceutical company Favre had invested in solicited nearly $2 million in state welfare funds.
Favre has repaid $1.1 million he received for speaking fees from a nonprofit group that spent TANF money with approval from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. White, the state auditor, said Favre never showed up to give the speeches.
In December, the state's Department of Human Services made a new demand of up to $5 million against Favre and a university sports foundation, saying welfare money was improperly used to pay for a volleyball arena at Favre's alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.
Favre's daughter started playing volleyball at the university in 2017. The volleyball facility was a pet project of the retired quarterback, and he pledged to lead fundraising efforts for it. Previous filings in the state's civil lawsuit show text messages between Favre and others about directing money to the volleyball facility from a nonprofit organization that had Human Services contracts.
The lawsuit Favre filed against the auditor Thursday accuses White of "shamelessly and falsely attacking Favre's good name" to gain attention for himself, "including appearances on television shows on CNN and HBO, a popular ESPN podcast, as well as interviews for print and online media. None of these national media outlets would have paid White the slightest attention had he not been attacking Favre."
Fletcher Freeman, a spokesman for White, said in a statement: "Everything Auditor White has said about this case is true and is backed by years of audit work by the professionals at the Office of the State Auditor. It's mind-boggling that Mr. Favre wants to have a trial about that question."
Freeman also said that Favre has called White and the auditor's team liars, despite repaying some of the money the auditor's office demanded from him.
"He benefitted from misspent funds," Freeman said. "Instead of paying New York litigators to try this case, he'd be better off fully repaying the amount of welfare funds he owes the state."
CBS News has reached out to representatives of both Sharpe and McAfee for comment.