Brett Favre after welfare scandal: ‘Ridiculous’ to say I did anything wrong

Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre is repaying the $1.1 million in welfare money he received after a Mississippi state audit suggested he was improperly paid for speeches that were never delivered. 

But in a recent radio interview, Favre said it was “ridiculous” to suggest he no-showed for events, saying he didn’t know the source of the funds.

Favre said he thought he was being paid for a PSA and one public appearance, according to Pro Football Talk.

“I in no way did anything wrong and wouldn’t do anything wrong or would take any money (this way),” Favre told ESPN Wisconsin. “I’ve never no-showed anyone as far as speaking engagements or commercials or anything of that nature. That’s ridiculous. And what I would have liked for the tax auditor to do — I don’t know him — would have been for him to contact us and talk about it and express what he had [in terms of] the documents from his investigation. ‘This is what we have.’ Rather than broadcast it everywhere.

“For him to say I took $1.1 million and didn’t show up for speaking engagements is absolutely, 100 percent not true. But yes, we are paying it back.”

Favre has already repaid $500,000 with the other $600,000 set to be paid in installments over the next few months. 

Last week, an audit from the Mississippi Department of Human Services showed Favre had been paid improperly through the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group who is alleged to have misused funds originally intended for welfare receipts. The group’s former leader has been indicted in a welfare embezzlement scheme.

But Favre was not charged in the case. The audit report lists the payments to him as “questioned’’ costs, which state auditor Shad White has said means “auditors either saw clear misspending or could not verify the money had been lawfully spent.’’

Last week, White said there was no evidence that Favre knew the money came from welfare funds.

Favre defended himself further during his interview.

“That’s not me,” Favre said. “I mean, I would certainly never do anything like that. And I know the people who know me know that that’s the absolute truth. That being said, we’re going to pay it back.”