Brett Favre Mississippi welfare: Ex-Packers QB files motion to dismiss lawsuit

Brett Favre was known for being a fighter on the field and now seems to be taking the same attitude off it in Mississippi. The former Packers quarterback has been implicated in a scandal that allegedly involved him. The Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) is suing 38 defendants in the case, including Brett Favre. The former Super Bowl winner has now filed a motion through his lawyers Monday in Mississippi judicial court to have the lawsuit tossed out. This applies to both him and Favre enterprises. The motion, in part, reads:

"It is apparent that MDHS has sued Favre, a Mississippi and national celebrity, in an effort to deflect responsibility for its own egregious wrongdoing."

The crux of the Brett Favre scandal in Mississippi

Brett Favre has been accused of multiple improprities in a growing scandal in Mississippi that involves some of the people at the highest levels of state government. The Hall-of-Fame quarterback is alleged to have diverted funds meant for welfare to build volleyball courts at the University of Southern Mississippi. He himself is an alumnus of the university and the solicitations took place when his daughter was a volleyball player there. While he claimed ignorance as to the source of the funds, purported text messages show that he wanted to keep the transactions hidden from the public.

The scale of the whole scandal is huge. Around $77 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) originating from the MHDS has allegedly been improperly diverted. Instead of going to poor people as intended, it went to rich and connected people like Brett Favre. The University of Southern Mississippi reportedly got $5 million channeled. Despite the aforementioned messages showing evidence to the contrary, he maintains his innocence in the motions, stating:

"Favre... in fact did not know that any funds he received were TANF funds or were subject to a legal use restriction...and did nothing wrong in connection with those funds."

In addition to the serious allegations above, he is also facing heat for being paid for speeches which he did not give. He has since paid back those fees but the interest amount accumulated is still reportedly outstanding. The fees themselves amounted to $1.1 million with the pending interest around $228,000. These fees also reportedly came out of TANF. He is also a top investor in Prevacus, a company developing concussion drugs, which also received TANF funds.

For their part, MDHS maintains that it is justified to have the former NFL quarterback as a defendant. This could be a prelude to a long and depressing saga.