Brett Favre, the former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, is taking legal action against ex-NFL players and media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee, as well as Mississippi Auditor Shad White.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges that they made false and defamatory statements about Favre\u2019s alleged involvement in a $77 million welfare fraud scheme.<\/p>\n
According to\u00a0DailyMail.com<\/a>, Favre\u2019s representative stated that Sharpe and McAfee made baseless accusations to advance their own careers, saying: \u201cShannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee tried to further their careers by making baseless defamatory allegations against Brett.\u201d<\/p>\n The controversy arose after Sharpe called Favre a \u201csleazeball\u201d on his show and accused him of taking $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds without fulfilling his speaking engagements. Meanwhile, McAfee accused Favre of stealing from impoverished Mississippians, saying Favre was \u201cstealing from the poor people of Mississippi.\u201d<\/p>\n Favre is suing McAfee and Sharpe along with Mississippi Auditor Shad White, over what he calls \u2018defamatory allegations\u2019 related to his supposed role in a $77 million welfare fraud scheme.<\/p>\n Favre has not been charged in the case, which has seen several guilty pleas already, and he repaid the $1.1 million that he received. However, Favre refused to pay $228,000 in interest being charged to him by White, as he claimed he did not know the source of the funding. In December, the Mississippi Department of Human Services abandoned its $1.1 million demand from Favre, acknowledging that he had paid back the money.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the department imposed a new $5 million demand, accusing Favre of using anti-poverty funds to build a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he was a student. Favre is also suing White for defamation, accusing the auditor of repeatedly misrepresenting his involvement in the case to the public.<\/p>\n \u201cShad White has done a disservice to the people of Mississippi\u201d Favre\u2019s spokesperson said to the\u00a0DailyMail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHere is some free advice for Shad White: do what state auditors are supposed to do\u2014fix the state\u2019s failure to have controls in place to ensure that it properly safeguards the taxpayers\u2019 money, not smear the reputations of private citizens to serve his own personal and political ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the defamation lawsuit, \u2018 McAfee said this about Favre: \u201cEvery time his name gets brought up, we have to mention that he tied the hands of the poor people and took money right out of their pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[Favre] is certainly in the middle of stealing from poor people in Mississippi right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharpe also said according to the lawsuit that \u201c[Favre] stole money from the people that really needed that money.\u201d<\/p>\n