WASHINGTON — Brett Favre’s testimony at a congressional hearing on federal welfare reform Tuesday included a startling revelation: The Hall of Famer says he was “recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.”
Favre’s testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing focused on the need for “guardrails” when it comes to dispersing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds—about $8 million of which went to Favre himself, a volleyball stadium at his alma mater, and to a drug company he backed.
In his testimony, Favre revealed his diagnosis when he mentioned Prevacus, the now defunct drug company that received about $2 million and counted Favre as its largest individual investor.
“Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” Favre said. “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.”
Favre said in a 2022 interview he had suffered “thousands” of concussions from playing football. He played 20 years in the NFL, setting the record for consecutive games played (321 games, counting playoff games), three AP MVPs, and a Super Bowl title with the Packers.
“Would I have done it different had I known?” Favre said in the recently released documentary Concussed: The American Dream. “I don’t know that.”
A pioneering Boston University study on CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year found that those who played organized football had a 61% greater risk of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The degenerative disease impacts movement as neurons in the brain deteriorate. There is no cure, although treatments can improve movement and tremors, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Since Favre’s name first got linked to the Mississippi welfare scandal in 2020, he has maintained he didn’t know the money that text messages show he lobbied for came from TANF funds. He has not been charged criminally, but he is one of 43 defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services to recover more than $90 million in illegally misspent TANF funds that were supposed to support the poorest families in the most impoverished state in the U.S.
After Favre’s lobbying, $5 million of TANF funds went to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation to cover the construction costs of a volleyball center. Favre’s daughter Breleigh had committed to play at University of Southern Mississippi when former USM president Rodney Bennett said in a deposition that Favre promised in January 2017 he “was going to pay, personally, for whatever the cost of the facility,” according to a deposition.
“I wanted to help my alma mater and benefit the community,” Favre says in his prepared testimony before Congress. “Southern Miss introduced me to the nonprofit to see if they could help with funding. I had no way of knowing that there was anything wrong with how the state funded the project especially since it was publicly approved by many state agencies and multiple attorneys including the Attorney General.”
That nonprofit, the Mississippi Community Education Center, was led by Nancy New and her son Zach. Millions of illegally misspent TANF funds were funneled from the MDHS under former director John Davis. Nancy New, Zach New, and John Davis pleaded guilty to state and federal charges related to the Mississippi welfare scandal.
“Nancy Santa came today and dropped some money off 🙂🙂,” Favre wrote in a text to Nancy New on Dec. 27, 2017, the day of the first payment from New’s nonprofit MCEC. “Thank you my goodness thank you.”
Favre has returned the $1.1 million he received directly for appearances and PSAs through the scheme. Mississippi State Auditor Shad White is still seeking more than $700,000 in unpaid interest, which Favre denies he owes.
“If you were to pay me is there anyway [sic] the media can find out where it came from and how much?” Favre wrote in a text to Nancy New on Aug. 3, 2017.
The last of the TANF funds connected to Favre flowed to Prevacus in six payments in 2019. Favre was the lead spokesperson for Prevacus, which was developing two concussion-related treatments—neither of which has come close to making it to market.
“Recently, the doctor running this company pleaded guilty to improperly taking TANF money for his own use,” Favre says in his prepared remarks Tuesday.
That doctor is Jake VanLandingham, the latest individual indicted in the ongoing federal probe into the welfare scandal. VanLandingham, who founded Prevacus, pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud in July. VanLandingham and Favre traded text messages as they sought funding for Prevacus.
“Surprise [John Davis] with a vehicle. … We could get him a Raptor,” Favre suggested to VanLandingham in a January 2019 text.
In addition to Favre, ACLU Mississippi executive director Jarvis Dortch, Foundation for Government Accountability Policy director Sam Adolphsen, and Matt Underhile of the Stoddard (Missouri) County Sheriff’s Department are scheduled to testify in front of the Ways and Means Committee.
Unlike the others, Favre will do so under a suppression order stemming from the MDHS lawsuit to recover the misspent TANF funds. That means he will be able to avoid testifying about the ongoing lawsuit.
“A court gag order bars the parties from discussing the specifics of the lawsuit,” Favre says in his prepared remarks. “Instead, I’m here to share what I’ve now seen up close, about how reforms are needed to stop the misspending of TANF funds.”
