Brett Favre is now on the other end of a handoff, as the Office of the State Auditor in Mississippi has given the attorney general’s office the go-ahead to try to get back the nearly quarter of a million dollars that the Hall-of-Fame quarterback owes his home state.
Last month, after auditor Shad White announced that Favre had 30 days to get square on repaying the $1.1 million he never should have gotten from state welfare funds for a radio PSA (and speeches that he never made, according to a contract that Favre disputes), Favre paid $600,000 back. Having already paid back half a million bucks last year, that would seem to do the trick, but because of his delays, Favre still is responsible under Mississippi law for interest, in this case totaling $228,000 run up over the past year.
So, when White’s office gave the attorney general its list of delinquents on Tuesday, Favre was on it.
“A little over 30 days ago, my office issued demands on several individuals ordering them to repay misspent welfare money,” White said in a statement. “As I said at the time, if any of those individuals failed to repay the money, the demands will be forwarded to the Attorney General’s Office, which is in charge of enforcing the demands in court. My team has now forwarded the unpaid demands to the AG’s office. My understanding is the Attorney General and the Department of Human Services have given authority to a private attorney to recoup the misspent money. We have been in contact with that attorney and will provide any information he needs.”
Favre is not alone in now having to watch for the attorney general’s debt collection lawyer. Ted DiBiase, wrestling’s Million Dollar Man, through his Heart of David Ministries, is on the list that White forwarded to the AG, along with his sons Ted Jr. and Brett. So, too, is former Oklahoma and NFL running back Marcus Dupree through his foundation.
Since the last time Favre did not return a call from Deadspin, the number on file for Favre Enterprises has been disconnected. Favre has not tweeted since October 29, when he again denied that his contract was for no-show speaking appearances, saying, “I was paid for three years of commercials that I did.”
Favre still has never explained why he took $1.1 million to do public service announcements, work that ordinarily would be done for free when promoting a non-profit, as Favre was, and which another source told Deadspin would generally top out at $30,000 if there was a fee.
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