Ex-NFL QB Favre says he's 'unjustly smeared' in welfare scandal

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 centre. 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.

Mississippi Auditor Shad White, a Republican who has investigated the welfare misspending, took exception with Favre's new statement. White pointed to text messages between Favre and other people about the volleyball arena, recently disclosed in the civil lawsuit.

"Obviously, Mr. Favre knew that he was being paid in government funds, based on the texts," White told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He knew that those funds were coming from the Department of Human Services. He's obviously