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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre says he is being treated unfairly in news coverage of a Mississippi welfare scandal, including about payments he received to help fund a pet project of his -- a volleyball arena at the university he attended and where his daughter was playing the sport.
"I have been unjustly smeared in the media," Favre said in a statement to Fox News Digital, which was published Tuesday. "I have done nothing wrong, and it is past time to set the record straight.
"No one ever told me, and I did not know, that funds designated for welfare recipients were going to the University or me," Favre said. "I tried to help my alma mater USM, a public Mississippi state university, raise funds for a wellness center. My goal was and always will be to improve the athletic facilities at my university."
It is one of the few public statements Favre has made about Mississippi's largest-ever public corruption case involving the misspending of tens of millions of dollars in welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in one of the poorest states in the U.S.
Favre is not facing criminal charges. He is among more than three dozen people or companies being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
The civil lawsuit was filed in May and says the defendants "squandered" more than $20 million from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.
Favre has repaid $1.1 million he received for speaking fees from the Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit group that spent TANF money with approval from the Department of Human Services. But, state Auditor Shad White has said Favre still owes $228,000 in interest.
In October 2021, Favre and White engaged in a social media spat about White saying Favre had accepted the $1.1 million but had failed to show up for speaking engagements.