WASHINGTON — Brett Favre, the former NFL quarterback accused of diverting millions of dollars in federal money away from welfare recipients, said Tuesday that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Speaking before the House Ways and Means Committee in a hearing dedicated to welfare reform, Favre, 54, addressed the controversy that has dogged him since 2020, denying that he knowingly misused federal welfare money. Among the companies that benefited is a pharmaceutical company, Prevacus, that promoted its efforts to find a treatment for concussions.
“Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” he said. “And I’m sure you’ll understand, while it’s too late for me because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, this is also a cause dear to my heart.”
The revelation was a startling admission from a high-profile football player whose more than two-decade career included a Super Bowl victory and induction into the Hall of Fame. While more attention has been paid in recent years to concussions and brain injuries in professional football, especially those suffered by quarterbacks, it is notable for a living player to be diagnosed with a serious disease that could be linked to repeated head hits in football. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the degenerative brain disease that is most associated with pro football, can be diagnosed only after death.
In a 2023 study, researchers found that longer duration of play and higher levels of football were linked to increased chances of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Favre has estimated that he suffered more than 1,000 concussions during his career. He played football at the University of Southern Mississippi before spending 20 seasons in the National Football League. Most were as a quarterback with the Green Bay Packers, helping clinch a Super Bowl victory in 1997.
A once-popular player whose quiet charm and low Southern drawl landed him countless endorsements, Favre drained his public goodwill after allegations that he had played a role in misappropriating about $8 million in public funds intended for low-income families. Those public funds, part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, provide cash assistance to households with children.
According to auditors, in 2017 and 2018, Favre received $1.1 million in speaking fees for speeches he never gave. They suggested he also helped funnel millions of dollars to pet projects: $5 million to build volleyball facilities at his alma mater, where his daughter played volleyball at the time, and an additional $2.1 million to Prevacus.
Jacob Vanlandingham, the neuroscientist who led Prevacus, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July, admitting to using funds diverted from the welfare program to pay off gambling and personal debts.
Favre was never charged with a crime, and his lawyer has said he paid back the $1.1 million in misspent speaking fees he received. But the state demanded that he pay back interest.
Favre refused, and the state sued him and 37 others to recoup funds it says they wrongfully acquired. The lawsuit made public texts from Favre that suggested he had a larger role than he claimed.
That lawsuit has since unleashed many others, including one Favre brought against the state auditor, Shad White, accusing him of defamation, and another the attorney general of Mississippi brought against White in an effort to block the recovery of funds from Favre.
Favre said Tuesday that a gag order prevented him from speaking about continuing litigation, but he accused the state auditor of seeking to tarnish Favre’s reputation to advance his own political career.
“The challenges my family and I have faced over the last three years because certain government officials in Mississippi failed to protect federal TANF funds from fraud and abuse and are unjustifiably trying to blame me — those challenges have hurt my good name,” Favre said, referring to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
He has often said he was “unjustly smeared” in the news media. But text messages written by Favre and made public in a court filing suggested that he was trying to hide his involvement.
“If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?” he wrote to the center that paid him speaking fees.
On Tuesday, Favre maintained his innocence.
“I had no way of knowing that there was anything wrong with how the state funded the project,” he said.
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