Texts show Favre wanted government money for second facility

In the NFL, Brett Favre was known as a risk-taking gunslinger. Now, he is making headlines for his connection to what’s being called the largest public corruption case in Mississippi state history.

More text messages are revealing the extent to which the retired NFL quarterback lobbied for funds for pet projects. The money wound up coming from welfare programs designed to help the poor. Favre told the FBI at the time, he didn’t know the money was coming from the state’s welfare funds.

In 2017, Favre worked with John Davis, the former head of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Davis helped Favre get more than $5 million for a pet project to build a volleyball arena at Southern Mississippi University. Favre’s daughter was on the school’s volleyball team.

Davis pleaded guilty last week to a slew of state and federal charges that he participated in a conspiracy to misspend welfare money. He also agreed to testify against others connected to the case.

And now, newly revealed text messages show Favre asked for help to get more money to build another sports facility, this time for the football program.

Text messages from 2019 between Favre and Phil Bryant, the former governor of Mississippi, show the millionaire retired athlete tried to secure public funds to build an indoor practice facility. Before going to the NFL, Favre played football at Southern Mississippi University.

Court documents show Favre texted Bryant “we need your help big time” and that “time was working against us”. When the texts were sent, Bryant was just a few months away from leaving office.

Favre’s second request for money went nowhere, and Bryant’s lawyers said the latest texts prove he didn’t know about the corruption.

So far, Favre has not been charged with any crimes. He was named in a civil lawsuit filed by the State of Mississippi to recover some of the misspent money.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.