To recoup over $20 million in welfare money that was misspent and supposed to be used to help the poorest state in America, Mississippi slapped a few dozen people and companies with a civil lawsuit.
Among the defendants in Mississippi’s lawsuit are retired NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Brett Favre and WWE wrestlers, according to reports.
Filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, the lawsuit will attempt to recover $24 million in cash it claims the defendants “squandered” from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
“I do not understand…,” attorney Brad Pigott — who wrote the lawsuit — originally said to Mississippi Today. “What kind of person would decide that money the law required to be spent helping the poorest people in the poorest state would be better spent being doled out by them to their own families, their own pet projects, and their own favorite celebrities?”
Some welfare money was allegedly spent on drug rehab for former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase, who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with his brother and his father, retired WWE wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase Sr.
Brett Favre reportedly believed he could make large sums of cash as an early investor in a new drug company; he called upon his friend, former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, to help him funnel the money as political and financial capital to push the venture forward.
Monday’s lawsuit claims Favre was once the largest individual outside investor and stockholder of the Florida-based company Prevacus, which was developing a concussion medication. The suit states that in late 2018, Favre wanted Prevacus CEO Jake VanLandingham “to solicit Nancy New to use MDHS grant proceeds to invest in the stock of Prevacus,” according to the lawsuit.
“She has strong connections and gave me 5 million for Vball facility via grant money. Offer her whatever you feel like,” Favre allegedly wrote in a text to Vanlandingham, as Mississippi Today reported last month.
Among the defendants are the mother and son duo of Nancy New, 69, and Zachary New, 39, who pleaded guilty to state charges. They both agreed to testify against others in the corruption case, which auditor Shad White said was Mississippi’s largest in two decades.
In 2020, Nancy and Zachary, along with former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director John Davis and three others, were charged with misspending.
A $1.1 million contract with Favre Enterprises reportedly paid him to “speak at three different public events, and one ‘keynote address,’ and that Favre sign autographs at events promoting MCEC itself,” according to the lawsuit which also stated that neither Favre nor his company “ever performed any such speaking or autograph ‘services.’ Certainly no services were performed by Favre that had anything to do with the pursuit of lawful TANF purposes.”
“Our purpose with this suit is to seek justice for the broken trust of the people of Mississippi and recover funds that were misspent,” Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Governor Tate Reeves said jointly on Monday.
The filing arrives just months after the auditor made legal demands for repayment of the funds to the attorney general’s office.
“I applaud the team filing this suit and am grateful the state is taking another step toward justice for the taxpayers,” White said. “We will continue to work alongside our federal partners to make sure the case is fully investigated.”
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Gee? Psaki nor biden mentioned that today? LMAO!