Current:Home > FinanceMississippi Supreme Court won’t remove Favre from lawsuit over misspent welfare money-LoTradeCoin
Mississippi Supreme Court won’t remove Favre from lawsuit over misspent welfare money
View Date:2024-12-23 18:21:30
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court says it will not remove NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre as a defendant in a civil lawsuit that seeks to recover millions of dollars of misspent welfare money meant to help some of the poorest people in the United States.
A panel of three justices issued a brief ruling Wednesday, denying an appeal from Favre.
His attorneys said in written arguments in May that the Mississippi Department of Human Services is making “utterly meritless” legal arguments in suing the retired quarterback.
On April 24, Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson denied Favre’s request to be removed from the lawsuit, which has more than three dozen people or businesses as defendants. Favre asked the Supreme Court to overturn Peterson’s decision.
Millions of federal welfare dollars for low-income Mississippi residents were squandered on projects supported by wealthy or well-connected people from 2016 to 2019, prosecutors say.
The Department of Human Services’ lawsuit, filed in 2022, says money from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program was improperly spent, including on projects Favre supported: $5 million for a volleyball arena at the university he attended and where Favre’s daughter played the sport, and $1.7 million toward development of a concussion treatment drug.
No criminal charges have been brought against Favre, although a former department director and other people have pleaded guilty to their part in the misspending.
In their filing to the state Supreme Court, Favre’s attorneys argued that Department of Human Services officials and Nancy New, who directed a nonprofit organization with Human Services contracts, “concocted and carried out the scheme” to direct welfare money toward a volleyball center, and that Favre was not part of the effort.
Attorneys for the state responded that Favre took $1.1 million in TANF money from Nancy New “for speeches he never made.”
“Favre repaid that, but he has neither repaid the $1.7 million he arranged for his drug company, Prevacus, to receive in exchange for giving Nancy New stock, nor the $5 million he orchestrated the USM Athletic Department to receive for a volleyball facility,” the state attorneys wrote.
Favre’s attorneys argued the Department of Human Services is suing the NFL Hall of Famer to deflect from the department’s own role in allowing fraud, and they filed multiple sets of papers seeking to have him dismissed from the suit.
State attorneys wrote in March that Favre’s attorneys had given the court “a long press release” rather than legal arguments in trying to get him out of the lawsuit. The state attorneys wrote in May that the Mississippi Supreme Court does not grant appeals “based on whether a defendant is famous, or on speculations about the plaintiff’s motives, or on fact disputes.”
veryGood! (77)
Related
- Martin Scorsese on the saints, faith in filmmaking and what his next movie might be
- Kristen Stewart and Fiancée Dylan Meyer's New Film Will Have You Flying High
- Pentagon to tighten oversight of handling classified information in wake of leaks
- Was your flight to Europe delayed? You might be owed up to $700.
- UFC 309: Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic fight card, odds, how to watch, date
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $260 Crossbody Bag for Just $59
- Jennifer Lopez Sizzles in Plunging Wetsuit-Inspired Gown at The Flash Premiere
- How inflation expectations affect the economy
- Republican Scott Baugh concedes to Democrat Dave Min in critical California House race
- Britney Spears hit herself in the face when security for Victor Wembanyama pushed her hand away, police say
Ranking
- Women suing over Idaho’s abortion ban describe dangerous pregnancies, becoming ‘medical refugees’
- What Would It Take to Turn Ohio’s Farms Carbon-Neutral?
- Andy Cohen Reveals the Raquel Leviss Moment That Got Cut From Vanderpump Rules' Reunion
- Warming Trends: A Facebook Plan to Debunk Climate Myths, ‘Meltdown’ and a Sad Yeti
- New Orleans marks with parade the 64th anniversary of 4 little girls integrating city schools
- Warming Trends: The Value of Natural Land, a Climate Change Podcast and Traffic Technology in Hawaii
- Utilities See Green in the Electric Vehicle Charging Business — and Growing Competition
- Market Headwinds Buffet Appalachia’s Future as a Center for Petrochemicals
Recommendation
-
Quincy Jones' cause of death revealed: Reports
-
Billie Eilish Cheekily Responds to Her Bikini Photo Showing Off Chest Tattoo
-
The Fed continues its crackdown on inflation, pushing up interest rates again
-
Your Multivitamin Won't Save You
-
Cleveland Browns’ Hakeem Adeniji Shares Stillbirth of Baby Boy Days Before Due Date
-
Warming Trends: Green Grass on the Ski Slopes, Covid-19 Waste Kills Animals and the Virtues and Vulnerabilities of Big Old Trees
-
Twitter threatens legal action over Meta's copycat Threads, report says
-
The northern lights could be visible in several states this week. Here's where you might see them.