The Mississippi Legislature’s attempt to divert $10 million in federal relief funds toward private schools for infrastructure improvements is “a clear violation of the Mississippi Constitution,” Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ruled Thursday.
A week after hiring an ex-Trump White House attorney, retired NFL star Brett Favre is telling Fox News that he did not know that $1.1 million he received from a Mississippi nonprofit and millions he helped his alma mater obtain to build a volleyball stadium were federal welfare funds.
Attorneys for Austin Smith, a defendant in a civil lawsuit over Mississippi’s massive welfare scandal case, have issued a subpoena to former Gov. Phil Bryant for a broad range of documents and communications related to the alleged misspending of $77 million in federal welfare funds.
Beyond Jackson’s water crisis or the TANF welfare scandal, Mississippi is experiencing a leadership crisis, Nsombi Lambright-Haynes writes.
“First, not one person on our team is fixated on being first. Getting it right is our goal,” Kimberly Griffin writes. “We aren’t sitting around decrying other journalists covering the story. That’s not helpful. It’s harmful because Mississippians deserve as much good information they can get because, Lord knows, power brokers are hiding it from us.”
Between 2016 and 2019, the Mississippi Department of Human Services and nonprofits associated with it allegedly misspent more than tens of millions of dollars in federal Temporary Assistance For Needy Families funds that should have gone to the poorest families in the poorest state. More than $5 million of those funds went toward a volleyball-stadium project at the University of Southern Mississippi favored by retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and $1.1 million went to Favre himself.
John Davis, the former Mississippi Department of Human Services director who presided as a massive welfare fraud scandal unfolded, is facing multiple federal conspiracy, fraud and embezzlement charges relating to the misuse of funds meant for poor families with children.
“Multiple prosecutors” are still examining the facts and making decisions about criminal charges in Mississippi’s sprawling welfare scandal that saw millions in funds meant for poor families go instead to wealthy celebrities, Mississippi State Auditor Shad White said on Thursday, Sept. 15.
The FBI has interviewed retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre regarding the Mississippi welfare scandal that saw over $77 million in Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Funds doled out to fund pet projects and sports celebrities—including Favre himself, NBC reports.
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