Brett Favre, the previous N.F.L. quarterback accused of diverting tens of millions of {dollars} in federal cash away from welfare recipients, mentioned on Tuesday that he had been identified with Parkinson’s illness.
Talking earlier than the Home Methods and Means Committee in a listening to devoted to welfare reform, Mr. Favre, 54, addressed the controversy that has dogged him since 2020, denying that he knowingly misused federal welfare cash. Among the many firms that benefited is a pharmaceutical firm, Prevacus, that promoted its efforts to discover a therapy for concussions.
“Sadly, I additionally misplaced an funding in an organization that I believed was creating a breakthrough concussion drug I believed would assist others,” he mentioned. “And I’m positive you’ll perceive, whereas it’s too late for me as a result of I’ve just lately been identified with Parkinson’s, that is additionally a trigger expensive to my coronary heart.”
The revelation was a startling admission from a high-profile soccer participant whose greater than two-decade profession included a Tremendous Bowl victory and induction into the Corridor of Fame. Whereas extra consideration has been paid in recent times to concussions and mind accidents in skilled soccer, particularly these suffered by quarterbacks, it’s notable for a residing participant to be identified with a severe illness that may very well be linked to repeated head hits in soccer. Continual traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative mind illness that’s most related to professional soccer, may be identified solely after demise.
In a 2023 examine, researchers discovered that longer period of play and better ranges of soccer have been linked to elevated possibilities of being identified with Parkinson’s.
Mr. Favre has estimated that he suffered greater than 1,000 concussions throughout his profession. He performed soccer on the College of Southern Mississippi earlier than spending 20 seasons within the Nationwide Soccer League. Most have been as a quarterback with the Inexperienced Bay Packers, serving to clinch a Tremendous Bowl victory in 1997.
A once-popular participant whose quiet allure and low Southern drawl landed him numerous endorsements, Mr. Favre drained his public good will after allegations that he had performed a task in misappropriating about $8 million in public funds supposed for low-income households. These public funds, a part of the Short-term Help for Needy Households program, present money help to households with kids.
In response to auditors, in 2017 and 2018, Mr. Favre obtained $1.1 million in talking charges for speeches he by no means gave. They recommended he additionally helped funnel tens of millions of {dollars} to pet tasks: $5 million to construct volleyball services at his alma mater, the place his daughter performed volleyball on the time, and a further $2.1 million to Prevacus.
Jacob Vanlandingham, the neuroscientist who led Prevacus, pleaded responsible to wire fraud in July, admitting to utilizing funds diverted from the welfare program to repay playing and private money owed.
Mr. Favre was by no means charged with against the law, and his lawyer has mentioned he paid again the $1.1 million in misspent talking charges he obtained. However the state demanded that he pay again curiosity.
Mr. Favre refused, and the state sued him and 37 others to recoup funds it says they wrongfully acquired. The lawsuit made public texts from Mr. Favre that recommended he had a bigger position than he claimed.
That lawsuit has since unleashed many others, together with one Mr. Favre introduced towards the state auditor, Shad White, accusing him of defamation, and one other the lawyer basic of Mississippi introduced towards Mr. White in an effort to dam the restoration of funds from Mr. Favre.
Mr. Favre mentioned on Tuesday {that a} gag order prevented him from talking about persevering with litigation, however he accused the state auditor of in search of to tarnish Mr. Favre’s popularity to advance his personal political profession.
“The challenges my household and I’ve confronted over the past three years as a result of sure authorities officers in Mississippi failed to guard federal TANF funds from fraud and abuse and are unjustifiably making an attempt responsible me — these challenges have harm my good title,” Mr. Favre mentioned, referring to the Short-term Help for Needy Households program.
He has usually mentioned he was “unjustly smeared” within the information media. However textual content messages written by Mr. Favre and made public in a courtroom submitting recommended that he was making an attempt to cover his involvement.
“For those who have been to pay me is there anyway the media can discover out the place it got here from and the way a lot?” he wrote to the middle that paid him talking charges.
On Tuesday, Mr. Favre maintained his innocence.
“I had no method of understanding that there was something flawed with how the state funded the undertaking,” he mentioned.