Favre to repay $1.1M

JACKSON, Miss. — Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is repaying $1.1 million in welfare money that he received for multiple speeches where he did not show up, the Mississippi state auditor said Wednesday.

Auditor Shad White said his office received $500,000 from Favre on Wednesday, plus a commitment that he will repay the other $600,000 over the next few months.

His effort to repay the money came two days after White released an audit of spending by the Mississippi Department of Human Services that showed Favre had been paid by Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group whose former leader has been indicted in a welfare embezzlement scheme.

Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S., and the community education center had contracts with

Human Services to spend money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, also known as TANF.

The audit released Monday said the center paid Favre Enterprises $500,000 in December 2017 and $600,000 in June 2018, and he was supposed to make speeches for at least three events. The auditor’s report said 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, who lives in Mississippi, faces no criminal charges. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Favre said he didn’t know the payments he received came from welfare funds.