Mississippi auditor Shad White called NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre‘s alleged welfare scandal “the largest public fraud case in the history of the state.”

Favre came into heavy water after the state of Mississippi discovered more than $70 million in welfare funds were misused. The former head of Mississippi’s Department of Human Services, John Davis, pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in September. Favre was tied into the case after approximately $4 million in funds went into building a volleyball center at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre’s daughter was a volleyball player at the school when it was built. White was a guest on the HBO show Real Sports with correspondent David Scott — where he commented on the scope of the investigation.

“What I can tell you is that this is the largest public fraud case in the history of the state of Mississippi,” White said.

Scott asked the auditor if he had any idea what kind of case he had waiting for him when he was selected to investigate the misuse of the welfare funds, and White answered, “no, absolutely not.” He also told Real Sports that more than $100 million from the welfare fund was misused by government officials who were helping their friends instead.

“The folks who were making the spending decisions were acting as if there were no consequences here,” White added. “That there were no real rules around this money. They thought of this fund as not only their own fund to do what they wanted with, but they thought of it as a slush fund that no one was watching at all.”

White discovered that a Mississippi state welfare fund called TANF (Temporary Assistance For Needy Families) gave $5 million to a project at the University of Southern Mississippi that Favre was in charge of, the volleyball building.

“It is clearly a volleyball court built at a time when Mr. Favre’s daughter is there,” White continued. “And can’t spend money for the poor on something like that.”

A nonprofit executive, Nancy New, had a contract with the state’s welfare agency to give funds for poverty relief.

Real Sports obtained a text message from Favre to New that read, “very big deal and can’t thank you enough,” the text read. Favre got an additional $1 million from New, and in return, he would give some speeches to residents, but Favre never gave the speeches.

“There’s the weird transaction involving $1.1 million going to Mr. Favre,” White said. “He’s supposed to speak at three total speaking engagements, but he didn’t show up to those events.”

New and her son, Zach, pleaded guilty in April to bribery of a public official, fraud against the government, and wire fraud.

Watch above via Real Sports on HBO.

The post Mississippi Auditor Calls Brett Favre’s Welfare Scandal ‘The Largest Public Fraud Case In The History Of The State’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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