Brett Favre steals and is redneck scum.

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by DUCKMOUTH, May 5, 2020.

  1. TC

    TC Peter, 53, from Toxteth
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    :airquote: dated :airquote:
     
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  2. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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    Just more reasons to hate him.


    Brett Favre says Deion Sanders should be next football coach for Southern Miss
    In an Incompas video interview posted Monday featuring Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, the former Southern Miss quarterback had a lot of hot takes.

    But one take that stands out with implications for the state of Mississippi is when one Hall of Famer endorsed another one.

    In the 14-minute video, Favre is asked who he thinks will be the next football coach for his beloved Golden Eagles, and though, he admits that he’s not “in the know,” that didn’t stop him from voicing his opinion. And this is where things get good. Favre wants his alma mater to go Primetime.

    That’s right, the former NFL MVP wants Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill offensive coordinator Deion Sanders to be USM’s next coach to replace Jay Hopson, who stepped down after losing the season opener to South Alabama.

    “I think (Sanders) would be great for Southern Miss,” Favre said.

    And when asked if Sanders would be interested in the job, Favre replied “absolutely.”

    “I think he would do a tremendous job, and we all know he can recruit, and we all know that he can bring attention.”

    Favre, whose daughter plays beach volleyball for the Golden Eagles, added Sanders is something the university needs. Though, he admitted that he won’t be taking a coaching position, himself, because he couldn’t give the type of attention to the job that he would want.

    He added more glowing things about Sanders, but admitted that he knows that Sanders has a staff assembled for whatever job that he would take.

    The show went on to talk about the “electric” coaches that the state would have if Sanders added to the current group of Mississippi State’s Mike Leach and Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin.

    And as an added bonus in the interview, Favre also picked Ole Miss to beat Florida in its SEC opener next week.
     
  3. TylerDurden

    TylerDurden Oxygen makes you high

    Deion and Brett are both dipshits
     
  4. devine

    devine hi, i am user devine
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    No mask

     
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  5. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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    Just more reasons not to like Brett Favre. Jensen has a point
     
  6. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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    He cannot even begin to tell you!!
     
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  7. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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    With his hot dog skin having ass
     
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  8. Boo MFer!

    Boo MFer! No longer a cog in some powerhouse machine
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    Like I always say, stand for the flag, kneel for the cross!!!!!
     
  9. Stringer Bell

    Stringer Bell JAN LEVINSON I PRESUME

    Stand for just the right dick pic, kneel to dig through vomit in hopes of finding painkillers.
     
  10. Redav

    Redav One big ocean
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    He prob can't tell you because he can't remember
     
  11. blind dog

    blind dog wps
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    favre was one of my childhood/adulthood heroes and now i think he sucks

    life comes at you fast
     
  12. Boo MFer!

    Boo MFer! No longer a cog in some powerhouse machine
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  13. Emma

    Emma
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    Makes two of us
     
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  14. Butthead

    Butthead narmas, narmas

    I want to watch players play and teams win, lose, come from behind," Favre said

    Oh really Brett :iseeu:
     
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  15. Shawn Hunter

    Shawn Hunter Vote Corey Matthews for Congress
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    Didn’t realize the teams and players had stopped doing that. That’s certainly an interesting development for the sport.
     
  16. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    Those dumbass rednecks never watched to begin with
     
  17. bro

    bro Your Mother’s Favorite Shitposter
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  18. Butthead

    Butthead narmas, narmas

    I think I was more surprised to learn that he has a podcast
     
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  19. jhooked

    jhooked It's the way you go na, na, na
    Donor TMB OG

    You were surprised a white guy with an internet connection has a podcast?
     
  20. jhooked

    jhooked It's the way you go na, na, na
    Donor TMB OG

  21. BudKilmer

    BudKilmer Well-Known Member
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    Brett Favres shittiness makes me pro Gregg Williams Bountygate and makes me glad the Saints beat the hell out of him and that makes me hate him even more
     
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  22. blind dog

    blind dog wps
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    Fuck you brett
     
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  23. Bruce Bowen

    Bruce Bowen Well-Known Member
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    Truth. But actually it’s white guys over 30 with an internet connection*
     
  24. Sir Phobos

    Sir Phobos Knight of Mars, Beater of Ass.
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    he's hillbilly trash from a backwater state, none of this should be surprising.
     
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  25. spagett

    spagett Got ya, spooked ya
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    He's a packer
     
  26. Handcuffed

    Handcuffed A Succulent Chinese Meal
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    sounds like he's angling for a senate seat
     
  27. texasraider

    texasraider thanks
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    Was just about to congratulate him on his upcoming election victory
     
  28. IvanTheTerrible

    IvanTheTerrible Well-Known Member
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  29. Boo MFer!

    Boo MFer! No longer a cog in some powerhouse machine
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    Guy is a first-class piece of shit.
     
  30. Shawn Hunter

    Shawn Hunter Vote Corey Matthews for Congress
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    I feel ashamed having liked him growing up
     
  31. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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    Last Governor now involved. Fuck Favre and Gov Phillbilly.


    Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre
    by: Anna Wolfe

    Posted: Apr 4, 2022 / 10:26 AM CDT

    Updated: Apr 4, 2022 / 11:32 AM CDT

    [​IMG]
    JACKSON, Miss. (Mississippi Today) – Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant used the authority of his office, the weight of his political influence and the power of his connections to help his friend and retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre boost a fledgling pharmaceutical venture.

    Then he tried to cash in on the project when he left office, text messages show.

    Favre believed he could make millions as an early investor in a drug company. He just needed a little more political and financial capital to push the enterprise into the end zone.

    “It’s 3rd and long and we need you to make it happen!!” Favre wrote to the governor in late December 2018, according to text messages recently obtained by Mississippi Today.

    “I will open a hole,” Bryant responded, piggybacking on the football metaphor.

    Less than a week later, Favre would meet with Bryant’s welfare officials to strike a deal for a $1.7 million investment in the biomedical startup Prevacus, which promised it had found a treatment for concussions. Prosecutors now say that money was stolen from a federal program intended to serve the state’s poorest residents – a pot of money that had virtually no oversight.

    Bryant said he did not introduce Prevacus to Nancy New, the nonprofit director who made the payments and now faces bribery, racketeering and embezzlement charges.

    But newly uncovered text messages show that, at the very least, Favre told Bryant that New had started funneling public funding to the drug company shortly after he began advocating on its behalf.

    As governor, Bryant assisted Prevacus, the company at the center of Mississippi’s ongoing welfare embezzlement scandal, in finding investors and gaining favor with federal regulators.

    Then, two days after he left office, Bryant agreed by text to accept stock in the company.

    “Now that you’re unemployed I’d like to give you a company package for all your help,” Prevacus founder Jake Vanlandingham wrote in a Jan. 16, 2020, text. “…We want and need you on our team!!!”

    “Sounds good,” responded the former governor, who was getting ready to take over a private sector lobbying firm. “Where would be the best place to meet. I am now going to get on it hard…”

    In a three-hour-long interview with Mississippi Today on April 2, Bryant said that despite the timeline revealed through the candid messages – which he acknowledged “doesn’t look good” – he never intended on accepting stock in Prevacus and did not read his texts carefully enough to pick up on the fact that the company had received public funding in the first place.

    “I should’ve caught that and I just simply didn’t,” Bryant said.

    Less than three weeks after the “get on it hard” text, the office of State Auditor Shad White, a Bryant appointee and Bryant’s former campaign manager, arrested New and John Davis, former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Prosecutors allege they conspired to steal welfare funds, including $2.15 million that New allegedly funneled to Prevacus.

    After the splashy indictments, Bryant appeared surprised to learn that the pharmaceutical firm had received federal welfare funds. Five days later, he cut ties with the company.

    Bryant’s backchannel maneuvering, uncovered by Mississippi Today’s investigation, raises questions about the governor’s personal agenda and influence over his welfare officials, which auditors say misspent at least $77 million in funds that were supposed to assist the state’s poorest residents.

    Mississippi Today has reviewed hundreds of pages of written communication, which are reprinted here exactly as they appear without correction, between Gov. Bryant and his associates.

    The trove of messages gives an indication of how far Bryant would go to help his friend Favre, who was trying to tap the state for resources to make himself a profit or to resemble a charitable alumnus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

    Even after the auditor’s investigation into agency misspending forced the former welfare chief out of office, the new MDHS director told Mississippi Today that the governor called him to meet with Favre for possible funding opportunities.

    Officials have not accused Bryant, Favre or Vanlandingham of a crime.

    Davis and New, on the other hand, have pleaded not guilty and could face several years in prison – up to 10 years for Davis and hundreds of years for New – if convicted on all counts.

    Taxpayers in Mississippi have nothing to show for their investment, which was supposed to pay for safety studies in the development of a new drug that still hasn’t materialized. What’s worse, state taxpayers will likely be on the hook to pay back all or some of the many tens of millions of dollars misspent in this overarching welfare scheme.

    Vanlandingham has since sold his idea for the medication to Odyssey Group International, an acquisition company the scientist said he is now working with to conduct clinical trials for the drug. Prevacus, meanwhile, has gone dormant.

    Early years
    As early as 2014, Favre began working with Vanlandingham to find backers for a new concussion treatment drug that the Florida neuroscientist had in the works. Vanlandingham, who launched Prevacus in 2012, said he had developed a nasal medication called Prevasol that would reduce harmful brain swelling and inflammation after impact to the head, as well as a preventative topical cream.

    For years Favre has raised public awareness about the epidemic of concussions, which he’s suffered from himself, but his conversations with the scientist about Prevasol revolved more around him making money. He once said by text that his goal was to walk away with $20 million.

    The NFL legend from Kiln, Mississippi, invested nearly a million of his own money into Prevacus, he told Men’s Health magazine, but by 2018, with no physical product to speak of, he was becoming more desperate to get the pharmaceutical project off the ground.

    The athlete had an idea. Favre sent Vanlandingham a phone number for the governor – a “great guy good friend” – and told him to reach out. They spoke the next day and Vanlandingham congratulated Favre on his networking.

    “Great call with the Governor,” Vanlandingham texted in late November 2018. “He’s going to make some key connections for us to start with FDA. Good job!!!”

    “Don’t know if legal or not but we need cut him in,” Favre responded, followed three days later by another idea: “Also if legal I’ll give some of my shares to the Governor.”

    In their earliest conversations and on Favre’s suggestion, Vanlandingham attempted to entice Bryant with company stock. But instead of asking the governor to make a personal investment, Vanlandingham offered Bryant shares in exchange for his help in connecting Prevacus with potential investors and carving paths to the nation’s drug regulation agency.

    “We want you to know we want you on the team and can offer stock. We don’t know the rules but are willing to do what is needed to bring you on board,” Vanlandingham texted to Bryant in a group message with Favre on Dec. 6, 2018, a few weeks before their first meeting. “Grateful for your help!!!”

    Late 2018
    Vanlandingham, Favre, Bryant and others met for dinner at Walker’s Drive-In in Jackson the day after Christmas in 2018.

    Bryant brought along New Orleans-based venture capitalist and developer Joe Canizaro, who had already started working with the governor on a real estate development and medical corridor on the Mississippi Gulf Coast called Tradition. Bryant is listed as vice president for the company Canizaro formed to develop the residential neighborhood called The Village at Tradition. Bryant considers the development part of his legacy as governor – a nursing school built there during his administration is named in his honor.

    The concept was for Prevacus to locate its clinical trial site and eventually the drug manufacturing plant at Tradition, in turn boosting workforce and economic development for the state. However, the plans and proposals Prevacus drafted and sent to the governor’s office did not include projections related to job creation. Even if they had, that would be a project for the state’s economic development agency.

    In 2020, Mississippi Today requested all communication from Mississippi Development Authority related to Prevacus or Vanlandingham for this time period. The agency said none existed. Instead, the financing would eventually flow through the Department of Human Services – which was increasingly contorting its mission to whatever they could call workforce development.

    The morning after their dinner, Vanlandingham sent a message in the group text thanking the governor “for all you’re doing for us.”

    “You’re the man!!!” the scientist wrote.

    “So glad y’all were here,” the governor responded. “We have our orders and we are moving ahead. Will keep you informed.”

    Favre then texted the touchdown analogy and Bryant promised to act as their lineman.

    The next day, Favre sent Vanlandingham the contact information for Nancy New, founder of the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, and instructed the scientist to text her.

    At the time, New’s nonprofit was on the receiving end of an unprecedented cash flow from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the public assistance agency run by Bryant’s appointee John Davis.

    The agency gave New more than $60 million in contracts to run the now disgraced anti-poverty program called Families First for Mississippi. The money primarily came from a federal grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, known for providing the “welfare check” to very poor families. Independent auditors found that New’s nonprofit blew at least $12.2 million and have been unable to trace an additional $40 million that it spent. New and Davis are both awaiting trial in what officials regard as the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history.

    Favre was at least somewhat knowledgeable about the sizable grants New controlled and the flexibility around spending them, his text messages show.

    In the two years before this, New’s nonprofit had already paid $1.1 million in grant funds to Favre – which the state auditor demanded he repay – to promote the Families First program. The nonprofit also, at the football player’s request, paid $5 million to Southern Miss Athletic Foundation so it could build a volleyball stadium at the university – Favre’s alma mater and where his daughter played volleyball. Auditors say both of these payments violated federal regulations, though neither have resulted in criminal charges.

    “Text Nancy and include me if you want and basically ask her if she can help with investors, grants or any other way possible,” Favre texted Vanlandingham. “She has strong connections and gave me 5 million for Vball facility via grant money. Offer her whatever you feel like. She may can help but won’t hurt to ask. Look her up. She has a facility called family first in Jackson.”

    For at least two years prior to this, Favre and Vanlandingham had texted back and forth, at some points almost daily, and most of their conversations revolved around brainstorming prospective investors and funding sources. But it wasn’t until two days after their meeting with the governor that Favre connected the scientist with New.

    Just weeks earlier, Bryant had given New the governor’s prestigious Mississippi Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

    “Hey Nancy, I’m friends and colleagues with Brett Favre,” Vanlandingham texted New. “… We are working with the Governor to bring some human trial sites and drug manufacturing to MS. Not sure if we can find some synergy but would love to find out.”

    After an initial conversation, Vanlandingham expressed high confidence in New.

    “I’m going to venture out on a limb and say of all the times you’ve helped me the key contact that gets us over the top will end up being Nancy New. Thx brother she’s great,” he wrote to Favre.

    Favre told Vanlandingham he believed New and Davis, the director of Mississippi Department of Human Services, “would use federal grant funds for Prevacus.”

    January 2019
    A few days later, Favre hosted a meeting at his house to introduce Vanlandingham to New and Davis. In a calendar entry obtained by Mississippi Today, Davis wrote that the governor and Favre requested the meeting, which was originally to take place at New’s office. But due to bad weather preventing a flight from Hattiesburg to Jackson, texts show, Davis and New drove to the football player’s south Mississippi mansion instead.

    During the Jan. 2, 2019, meeting, the group struck a deal for New to direct some of her nonprofit’s grant funding to aid Prevacus in its drug development, according to texts and interviews. From then on, Vanlandingham referred to the funding he received from New as Mississippi grant funding, not a private donation or investment.

    Vanlandingham told Mississippi Today he always understood New and Davis were helping Prevacus obtain public money, and that he thought of New as a representative of the state.

    “The idea was that the state of Mississippi was getting involved and MCEC (Mississippi Community Education Center) is the arm that signed the contract,” Vanlandingham said recently. “The goal was and still is to conduct clinical trials and bring new biotech ventures to Mississippi.”

    The day after the meeting at Favre’s house, Vanlandingham texted the governor to let him know how well it went.

    “Governor, we had a great meeting with Nancy New and John Davis. We are excited to be working together !!!” he said. “Thanks.”

    The governor didn’t express surprise to hear they’d met.

    “Very good..” the governor said.

    Days later, Bryant set up a call for Vanlandingham with Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania and failed presidential candidate, who said he would contact the “second in command” of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on behalf of Prevacus, according to a text message from Vanlandingham to Favre. After the call with Santorum, Vanlandingham thanked the governor.

    “You did great by us my brother,” Vanlandingham wrote to the governor.

    “Had to open a whole (sic) in the line..” Bryant said.

    “It was wide enough for even favre to walk through,” the scientist responded.

    The NFL star also texted with Santorum, who told the athlete he was “excited about the project and getting the chance to work w great folks like you and Jake,” according to a text screenshot Favre sent Vanlandingham.

    In mid-January, Favre suggested lavishing New and Bryant’s welfare director in exchange for the funding Mississippi’s welfare agency was providing them.

    “This all works out we need to buy her and John Davis surprise him with a vehicle I thought maybe John Davis we could get him a raptor,” Favre texted Vanlandingham, referring to the souped up Ford F-150.

    Favre then asked his partner when he thought they would start earning money. The scientist said they could start selling equity shares to the public in under a year, and the goal was for them to own 30% of the company by that time.

    “The governor/Nancy/joe can be key in bringing us funds in for project development and not diluting our percentage ownership,” Vanlandingham wrote.

    The next day, Vanlandingham texted Gov. Bryant a series of updates, including that Prevacus was “working with Nancy New” on funding its first phase of trials.

    “Great report,” Bryant responded. “We will get this done.”

    New sent the first payment of $750,000 to Prevacus on Jan. 18, according to prosecutors, though the $1.7 million contract between Prevacus and Mississippi Community Education Center wasn’t signed until Jan. 19. In the agreement, the drug company promised to use the funds to finalize development of the nasal application and conduct safety studies. In exchange, the nonprofit would get to pick the location for clinical trials and have exclusive rights to the manufacturing of the drug.

    But over the course of the next year, prosecutors say Nancy New and her son and assistant Zach New diverted funds from the nonprofit to Prevacus and its spinoff company PreSolMD, not as a philanthropic grant, but as a personal investment. PreSolMD claimed it was developing a cream to prevent concussions. Prosecutors produced a physical stock agreement to back up their allegations that the News intended to profit off of welfare money.

    February 2019
    Throughout 2019, while Bryant’s welfare department and the Families First for Mississippi program was bleeding funds and providing the state virtually no bookkeeping, Bryant texted with Favre and Vanlandingham about the company’s progress.

    “We couldn’t be more happy about the funding from the State of MS,” Favre texted the governor in early February. “In fact Nancy New is going to meet with Joe (Canizaro) at Tradition the following week.”

    Bryant responded to this text by urging Favre to keep looking for funding. He also said he would let the athlete know when he found them a partner.

    To explain Bryant’s claim that he was unaware Prevacus was receiving state funds, the former governor said he didn’t read the text carefully enough. Bryant said he was often so busy he didn’t register the content of messages people sent when they wanted something from him. He said he often shot back canned responses without much thought.

    “I just simply did not carefully look at those texts and realize the intent in them,” Bryant said. “And I know that’s hard to believe and I know people read it and say, ‘Well, of course he knew,’ but I’m telling you, I just did not realize the details within those texts.”

    Favre’s friendly relationship with the governor ensured he and his business partner maintained Bryant’s ear.

    “Keep me close with the governor,” Vanlandingham texted Favre.

    Favre also remained in contact with director Davis. A couple months after their meeting, Favre told Davis that he still “owed” $1.1 million on his commitment to help build the new volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi.

    “Any chance you and Nancy can help with that?” Favre texted Davis. “…You and Nancy stuck your neck out for me with jake and Prevacus I know and that’s going to turn out very good I believe.”

    In April, the governor contacted the Hattiesburg military post Camp Shelby on behalf of Prevacus, texts show, after Vanlandingham posed the idea of securing funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to test the concussion drug on National Guard trainees.

    “Will pave the way..” Bryant wrote.

    Vanlandingham texted three days later to tell Bryant and Favre that his call with Camp Shelby’s commander was a success and that they’d scheduled another briefing. He thanked the governor.

    “Like I’ve said Jake,” Favre texted, ‘The Governor can get done.’”

    “Just making holes in the line,” Bryant responded.

    July 2019
    By July, however, the investigation into Davis and MDHS spending had begun and Vanlandingham was having a harder time getting clear answers from New about when they could expect to receive their next installments of grant funds.

    At the same time, Favre continued to complain to Vanlandingham about his “debt” in the volleyball facility, which he expected New and Davis to pay off.

    Favre was worried about the lack of cash flow, previously telling Vanlandingham he was “not sure if Nancy and John can keep covering for me.”

    The scientist and Favre were also trying to get New to invest in the separate concussion cream project, but the welfare well seemed to be drying up.

    The athlete turned to Bryant.

    “Hey Governor we are in a little bit of a crunch,” Favre wrote in mid-July 2019. “Nancy New who is wonderful and has helped me many times was gonna fund this pregame cream that we can be selling really soon. Well she can only do a small portion now. Jake can explain more but bottom line we need investors and need your direction.”

    “Will get with Jake..” the governor responded, “will help all I can.”

    By the end of that month, Bryant had replaced Davis as director of MDHS with former FBI Special Agent Christopher Freeze.

    “I heard John Davis retired. Shit!!!” Vanlandingham texted Favre in August of 2019.

    He asked Favre about the “new guy” Freeze.

    “Nancy said he ain’t our type,” Favre wrote.

    “Fuck,” Vanlandingham responded. “Well we may need the governor to make him our type.”

    Freeze recently told Mississippi Today that after Bryant appointed him to take over the welfare department, they discussed the ongoing investigation and the governor always implored Freeze to “do the right thing.”

    Around the same time though, Freeze said Bryant called him to his office to meet with New and Favre so they could pitch Freeze on a project related to the University of Southern Mississippi that they wanted MDHS to fund. Freeze said he couldn’t remember the details of the project, but the conversation didn’t go far because the director told New that MDHS had implemented an official bidding process, called a Request for Proposals – a standard government practice that MDHS hadn’t followed since 2012.

    Freeze said he told New and Favre that if they wanted an MDHS grant, they’d have to submit a proposal and the department would score it. After the meeting, Freeze said, New asked if she could come by his office to get the ball rolling on the project. He told her, “No.”

    In the six months Freeze was head of Bryant’s welfare department, he said the discussion about the project New and Favre proposed to MDHS was the most substantive conversation he had with the governor.

    Between requests for funding for the volleyball facility and the concussion project, Vanlandingham and Favre tried to tread delicately to make sure they weren’t badgering their benefactors. Their communication suggests that the governor – at least they perceived – was the one with the power to bestow them with public funding.

    “I know you’re stressed about USM money from governor for volleyball facilities,” Vanlandingham texted Favre in mid-October. “We still need the last 380k agreed for Prevacus too. Is there a play left with governor or should we let it go? Should I contact Nancy New or does that mess u up?”

    “Ask Nancy if that’s something the Governor can ok,” Favre responded.

    “He is about out,” Vanlandingham wrote, referring to the end of Bryant’s term. “May be better for us when he is.”

    December 2019
    By December 2019, as Bryant neared his last month as governor, he began talking more seriously about elevating Prevacus, telling Vanlandingham that Canizaro was interested in investing $100,000. He was also working with former President Donald Trump’s White House to host a summit about youth brain safety featuring Prevacus.

    Bryant told the scientist, “Trump love us.”

    Vanlandingham asked Bryant by text in early December, “Governor can we bring you onboard with ownership now?”

    The scientist and governor did not discuss, at least by text, Bryant investing his own funds into Vanlandingham’s venture. The conversations involved Bryant becoming a shareholder in exchange for the help he provided as governor and planned to provide after his term.

    “Cannot till January 15th,” Bryant wrote, referring to his first day out of office. “But would love to talk then. This is the type of thing I love to be a part of. Something that save lives…”

    A week before Bryant finished his term in office, Favre again encouraged Vanlandingham to offer the outgoing governor “a package that will get him determined to see it through.”

    On Jan. 16, 2020, two days after leaving the Mansion, Bryant began plotting his next meeting with the scientist.

    “Now that you’re unemployed I’d like to give you a company package for all your help,” Vanlandingham texted. “Let me know when you come up for air but know we want and need you on our team!!!”

    “Sounds good. Where would be the best place to meet. I am now going to get on it hard…” the former governor responded.

    In a text with another Prevacus partner, Vanlandingham indicated his intent was to “cut an equity deal with the governor to join prevacus/PreSolMD.”

    Vanlandingham, who defended the governor and his dealings with him, told Mississippi Today that Bryant never ended up obtaining shares in his company.

    “The governor was always straight up. There was never any stock exchanged. There was never any money exchanged. He just wanted to help,” Vanlandingham said. “And we never did a deal for him to come on with his consulting firm and that could be because this (the arrests) happened. We were probably working towards having the governor, post-governorship, help us, and I think that would have been great.”

    Bryant maintains that he never intended to accept the shares Vanlandingham offered on three occasions.

    “I think that the important part here: Would I trade a future with this firm, would I give up 30 years of integrity over some paper? Over some stock of a company that barely existed? Why would I do that? I’d have to be out of my mind to do that.”

    After he left office, Bryant spoke with Prevacus, as he said he would, but he told Mississippi Today that his instincts told him not to move forward. “At the end of the conversation, I said, ‘No. Nope. This would not be the right thing to do, and I’m not going to be a part of it.’”

    But Bryant’s texts paint a different picture about his departure from Prevacus. In reality, he talked about helping Vanlandingham all the way up until the arrests.

    February 2020
    On Feb. 4, 2020, Bryant scheduled a meeting for Feb. 12 at Tradition, where Vanlandingham could pitch Canizaro on investing in Prevacus. Bryant wrote: “If Brett could come it would seal the deal.”

    Meanwhile, on the same day, officials in Hinds County were filing indictments against Bryant’s former welfare officials.

    Before Bryant and Vanlandingham had a chance to meet again and “seal the deal,” as Bryant put it, the state auditor’s office arrested New, Davis and four others the next day.

    White investigated the case and did not turn information over to the FBI until it made the arrests, according to the local U.S. Attorney’s Office at the time. The auditor has explained that his office made the arrests as soon as it had enough evidence against the welfare officials in order to stop the flow of funds out of MDHS.

    The federal government, on the other hand, has brought no charges. It’s unclear if a federal investigation into the welfare scandal is ongoing, as both the Jackson offices of the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office would not comment. Bryant told Mississippi Today he has not been interviewed by state or federal investigators.

    Since the 2020 arrests, White has called Bryant the whistleblower in the case – though the fraud tip White says Bryant turned over to his office pertained to a small portion of the larger welfare scheme, according to Mississippi Today’s review of early investigative materials and interviews. Bryant claimed in texts he sent after the arrests that he was unaware Prevacus had received welfare funds.

    “Is this your company mentioned in the second paragraph?” Bryant texted Vanlandingham on the day of the arrests with a screenshot of a news article.

    Vanlandingham said yes, that he’d been subpoenaed and “just gave them everything.”

    “Not good…” Bryant wrote.

    Five days later, after a tidal wave of news coverage about the scandal, Bryant texted Vanlandingham to abruptly cut ties with the company.

    “I was unaware your company had ever received any TANIF funds,” Bryant texted at 8:37 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2020. “If some received anything of benefit personally then Legal issues certainly exists. I can have no further contact with your company. It is unfortunate to find ourselves at this point. I was hoping we could have somehow helped those who suffer from Brain Injuries. This has put that that hope on the sidelines.”

    That same morning, Auditor White appeared on a conservative talk radio show that is broadcast statewide to reveal the identity of the whistleblower in the welfare scandal.

    “That person in this case was Governor Phil Bryant,” White said. “He said he was comfortable letting that information out now.”

    This is Part 1 in Mississippi Today’s series “The Backchannel,” which examines former Gov. Phil Bryant’s role in the running of his welfare department, which perpetuated what officials have called the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history.
     
  32. 40wwttamgib

    40wwttamgib Fah Q, Ohio
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    this anna wolfe lady out here doing the lords work
     
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  33. Prospector

    Prospector I am not a new member
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  34. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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  35. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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    Buy my shirts so I can steal from my foundation.

    E4A6BC09-AC73-49ED-9B05-9A18F34F4D7C.png
     
    #86 DUCKMOUTH, Apr 28, 2022
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2022
  36. DUCKMOUTH

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    Why anyone would trust this fucker at this point is beyond me.
     
  37. Name P. Redacted

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  38. DUCKMOUTH

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    Mississippi sues Brett Favre, former pro wrestlers to recover millions of misspent welfare dollars
    [​IMG]
    The Mississippi Department of Human Services on Monday sued retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre and three former pro wrestlers along with several other people and businesses to try to recover millions of misspent welfare dollars that were intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.

    The lawsuit says the defendants “squandered” more than $20 million in money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families anti-poverty program.

    The suit was filed less than two weeks after a mother and son who ran a nonprofit group and an education company in Mississippi pleaded guilty to state criminal charges tied to the misspending. Nancy New, 69, and Zachary New, 39, agreed to testify against others in what state Auditor Shad White has called Mississippi’s largest public corruption case in the past two decades.

    In early 2020, Nancy New, Zachary New, former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director John Davis and three other people were charged in state court, with prosecutors saying welfare money had been misspent on items such as drug rehabilitation in Malibu, California, for former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase.

    DiBiase is a defendant in the lawsuit filed Monday in Hinds County Circuit Court, as are his father and brother who were also pro wrestlers, Ted DiBiase Sr. and Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr.

    Ted DiBiase Sr. was known as the “The Million Dollar Man” while wrestling. He is a Christian evangelist and motivational speaker, and he ran Heart of David Ministries Inc., which received $1.7 million in welfare grant money in 2017 and 2018 for mentorship, marketing and other services, according to the lawsuit.

    White last year demanded repayment of $77 million of misspent welfare funds from several people and groups, including $1.1 million paid to Favre, who lives in Mississippi. Favre has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

    White said Favre was paid for speeches but did not show up. Favre has repaid the money, but White said in October that Favre still owed $228,000 in interest. In a Facebook post when he repaid the first $500,000, Favre said he did not know the money he received came from welfare funds. He also said his charity had provided millions of dollars to poor children in Mississippi and Wisconsin.

    Months ago, the auditor’s office turned over the demands for repayment of misspent welfare money to the Mississippi attorney general’s office for enforcement. White said in a statement Monday that he knew the attorney general’s office eventually would file suit.

    “I applaud the team filing this suit and am grateful the state is taking another step toward justice for the taxpayers,” White said. “We will continue to work alongside our federal partners — who have been given access to all our evidence for more than two years — to make sure the case is fully investigated.”

    The lawsuit filed Monday said Favre at one time was the largest individual outside investor and stockholder of Prevacus, a Florida-based company that was trying to develop a concussion drug. The suit said that in December 2018, Favre urged Prevacus CEO Jake VanLandingham to ask Nancy New to use welfare grant money to invest in the company.

    The suit also said Favre hosted a Prevacus stock sales presentation at his home in January 2019, attended by VanLandingham, Davis, Nancy New, Zach New and Ted DiBiase Jr., and that an agreement was reached to spend “substantial” welfare grant money in Prevacus and later in its corporate affiliate PreSolMD Inc.

    The suit said the stock was in the names of Nancy New and Zach New but was also for the financial benefit of Favre, VanLandingham and the two companies. The lawsuit demands repayment of $2.1 million in welfare grant money that was improperly paid to the two companies in 2019.

    The Associated Press on Monday called a number once listed for Favre Enterprises and a recording said it was no longer in service.

    Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Gov. Tate Reeves said in a joint statement Monday: “Our purpose with this suit is to seek justice for the broken trust of the people of Mississippi and recover funds that were misspent.”

    Davis was chosen to lead the Department of Human Services in 2016 by then-Gov. Phil Bryant — who, like Reeves, Fitch and White, is a Republican. Davis retired in July 2019 and is awaiting trial on criminal charges in the misspending.

    Brett DiBiase pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one count of making a false statement. He said in court documents that he had submitted documents and received full payment for work he did not complete. He agreed to pay $48,000 in restitution and his sentencing was deferred.

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  39. DUCKMOUTH

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    More on former Gov Philbilly Bryant and Brett Favre being pieces of shit.


    Gov. Phil Bryant directed $1.1 million welfare payment to Brett Favre, defendant says
    by Anna Wolfe July 12, 2022 Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)
    Anna WolfeJuly 12, 2022
    [​IMG]
    Former Gov. Phil Bryant (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
    Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant instructed his wife’s friend — whose nonprofit was receiving millions in subgrants from the welfare department he oversaw — to pay NFL legend Brett Favre $1.1 million, according to a new court filing.

    Nancy New alleges Bryant directed this and other spending, resulting in a massive scandal and what officials have called the largest public embezzlement scheme in state history.

    Nancy New, a friend of former First Lady Deborah Bryant, and her son Zach New have pleaded guilty to several criminal charges, including bribery and fraud. As part of their plea, a favorable deal which recommends they spend no time in state prison, the News have agreed to cooperate in an ongoing criminal investigation.

    The Mississippi Department of Human Services is also suing Nancy New civilly, asking the court to make her repay $19.4 million. The department alleges New and 37 other defendants, including Favre, violated federal rules when they spent or received money from a federal block grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

    But Bryant, who had the statutory oversight responsibility over the department’s spending, has remained insulated from official liability. Mississippi Today, in its investigative series “The Backchannel,” first reported the former governor’s role in the scandal based on a trove of text messages between Bryant, Favre and other key defendants in the case.

    New’s filing marks the first time Bryant has been directly, publicly accused of wrongdoing by main defendants in the case.

    “Defendant reasonably relied on then-Governor Phil Bryant, acting within his broad statutory authority as chief executive of the State, including authority over MDHS and TANF, and his extensive knowledge of Permissible TANF Expenditures from 12 years as State Auditor, four years as Lieutenant Governor, and a number of years as Governor leading up to and including the relevant time period,” reads New’s response to the MDHS civil complaint filed Monday.

    New rejected the notion officials have made throughout the three-year investigation that John Davis, Bryant’s appointed welfare agency director who is also facing criminal charges, was a rogue state bureaucrat who independently chose to misspend tens of millions of welfare dollars.

    The bombshell response from Nancy New, her sons Zach New and Jess New and her nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center, who are also defendants in the civil suit, argue that MDHS is more at fault than it has represented. The court filings name dozens of officials and state employees who acted alongside Davis to perpetuate the scheme — with Bryant named first in the list.

    Bryant’s spokesperson Denton Gibbes denied New’s assertion. “She’s pointing her finger at everybody but the Easter Bunny,” Gibbes told Mississippi Today. “This is just legal hogwash.”

    THE BACKCHANNEL: Phil Bryant had his sights on a payout as welfare funds flowed to Brett Favre

    Bryant and the dozens of other state actors are referenced in the filing as “MDHS Executives.” New’s answer also claims that Davis and MDHS Executives directed her “to provide $5 million on behalf of the State of Mississippi to Prevacus, Inc. during a meeting with Jake Vanlandingham at Brett Favre’s home.”

    The News ended up paying Prevacus, an experimental concussion drug company, and its affiliate PreSolMD a total of $2.1 million — payments that were pivotal to the criminal investigation and charges against the News.

    In his last year as governor, Bryant was heavily involved in discussions about luring Prevacus to Mississippi, specifically to a new development called Tradition that Bryant had touted. Bryant helped the company find investors, make political connections and he even agreed to accept stock in Prevacus in January of 2020, Mississippi Today first reported in its investigative series, “The Backchannel.” His deal with Prevacus was derailed when agents from the state auditor’s office made arrests shortly after.

    The News’ recent filings are the first to reveal that state officials and employees actually intended to pay Prevacus $5 million through the nonprofit. The filing does not specifically say which “MDHS Executives” directed this investment.

    Mississippi Community Education Center is also countersuing MDHS, claiming that the welfare agency breached their contract. The nonprofit asks that if it is required to pay back any of the funds as a result of the civil suit, it should be able to recoup the same amount back from MDHS, plus other relief.

    An additional motion to stay discovery in the case asks the court to allow Nancy and Zach New to wait until their criminal cases have concluded before complying with discovery in the civil suit. Their April plea agreement suggests that investigators may have their sights on other co-conspirators that the News will be expected to help officials prosecute.

    In the News’ motion to stay, their attorney finds several faults with MDHS’s allegations.

    Primarily, the News argue that TANF rules have always allowed states to spend the block grant in a variety of ways, including on programs that serve people who earn up to 350% of the poverty line, which is currently $97,125. The state has even boasted in its official state plans about how it has taken advantage of the flexibility of TANF dollars.

    Only now, the News argue, after many of these “absurd expenditures” have come to public light, has the state revised its interpretation of the TANF statute to be more narrowly tailored to activities that actually help the poor.

    “MDHS has had a 25-year love affair with TANF’s extreme flexibility. MDHS cannot now divest itself of its contractual obligations simply because it is politically and financially expedient to do so,” the motion reads.

    The News have been targeted by investigators and law enforcement, the filings argues, without holding others who perpetuated this pattern of spending accountable.

    “The New Defendants will be substantially and irreparably harmed if forced to participate in discovery amidst giants poised for what promises to be a no-holds-barred death match,” the motion reads. “…The New Defendants have taken responsibility for their roles, yet they continue to be thrust into the crossfire by powerful forces fighting over political futures and tens of millions of dollars. The State wants to avoid liability and embarrassment, the Feds want their money back, and the public wants answers.”
     
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  40. DUCKMOUTH

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    Good ole boy system still at work. I hate all these fucks


    Mississippi Fires Lawyer Trying to Recoup Misused Welfare Funds
    The lawyer had issued a subpoena that could reveal details about the involvement of a former governor and a football star in the scandal.
    July 23, 2022
    [​IMG]
    A subpoena issued to the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation involving the building of a volleyball facility asks for communications that foundation members may have had with individuals including Brett Favre.Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
    ATLANTA — A lawyer working for a Mississippi state agency and trying to recoup tens of millions of dollars in misused welfare funds was fired on Friday after he issued a subpoena that could turn up details about the involvement of prominent Mississippians — including the former Governor Phil Bryant and the retired football star Brett Favre — in one of the ugliest scandals to shake the nation’s poorest state in recent years.

    The lawyer, J. Brad Pigott, a former U.S. attorney, had been working for the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the agency that distributes Mississippi’s federal welfare block grants. A state audit in 2020 found that as much as $94 million in federal funds may have been misspent in Mississippi. Instead of going to poor families, the audit found, much of the money ended up in the pockets of prominent Mississippians, including Mr. Favre, a Mississippi native, who was paid $1.1 million for speaking engagements he did not attend.

    Mr. Favre eventually paid $1.1 million back to the state, but the state auditor continues to demand $228,000 in accrued interest. More recently, an allegation surfaced in court documents that Mr. Bryant, a former two-term governor, directed the $1.1 million payment to Mr. Favre, a claim Mr. Bryant reportedly denies. Both Mr. Bryant and Tate Reeves, the current governor, are Republicans.

    The firing of Mr. Pigott, first reported by the online news outlet Mississippi Today, is connected to another component of the scandal: $5 million in welfare money that went to the construction of a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi, in Hattiesburg.

    A few days before his firing, Mr. Pigott — who drafted a lawsuit on the agency’s behalf seeking the return of more than $20 million from 38 entities and people, including Mr. Favre — filed a subpoena, directed at the university’s athletic foundation. The subpoena asks for documents connected to the funding of the volleyball building.

    It also asks the foundation to produce any communications its members may have had with Mr. Favre, Mr. Bryant and Mr. Bryant’s wife, Deborah Bryant, among others. Efforts to reach representatives of the athletic foundation were unsuccessful on Saturday evening.

    Robert G. Anderson, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, said on Saturday that Mr. Pigott had been relieved of his duties because he filed the subpoena without consulting with the agency first. But Mississippi Today obtained an email showing that Mr. Pigott sent a draft copy to the agency’s lawyer and the state attorney general’s office 10 days before he filed it.

    In a statement on Saturday, Shelby Wilcher, a spokeswoman for Governor Reeves, said that there were “many capable lawyers who can handle the work necessary to recover stolen TANF funds,” referring to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federal welfare program.

    She said that as Mr. Pigott’s one-year contract was about to expire, “it was decided that a semiretired solo practitioner was not the right person to sign on for more work.”

    Ms. Wilcher added that the Department of Human Services was hiring new lawyers to “vigorously pursue” the matter. “This work to recover misspent funds will continue uninterrupted, with a full-service law firm that is capable of handling it professionally,” she said.

    In a phone interview on Saturday, Mr. Pigott said that when he was fired by Mr. Anderson, he was told it had nothing to do with the quality of his legal work. In fact, he said, he was given no other reason for his dismissal. Mr. Pigott laid the blame not with Mr. Anderson but with Mr. Reeves’s office.

    “I believe I was fired as a result of a pattern of orders from the Mississippi governor’s office concerning protecting an entity, called the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, from any responsibility in this matter,” he said.

    Asked to be more specific about the “orders,” Mr. Pigott declined to comment.

    He also described how Mr. Favre was involved in the matter of the volleyball building. He said the quarterback, who played at Southern Miss from 1987 to 1990 before going on to a storied professional career, had promised to give $5 million for the building’s construction.

    Instead, Mr. Pigott said, Mr. Favre asked that the money be paid by the Mississippi Community Education Center. The center, a nonprofit lauded by Mississippi conservatives for its efforts to help poor people achieve self-sufficiency, had been contracted to distribute federal welfare money by the state. It was run by Nancy New, a well-connected figure in Mississippi Republican circles who was friends with Ms. Bryant and who pleaded guilty in April to misusing welfare funds.

    The nonprofit paid the $5 million, but then disguised it as a payment for use of university facilities that did not occur, Mr. Pigott said.

    Mr. Pigott served as a federal prosecutor from 1994 to 2001, after an appointment by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. He said he had taken the Department of Human Services job out of a sense of duty and disgust.

    “I’m a born and raised Mississippian, and this particular kind of fraud was just an especially offensive failure to use money to serve what the TANF law calls ‘needy families,’ of which we have an excess supply in Mississippi, and do have great, great needs,” he said. “I found it especially offensive that they so cavalierly spent so many millions of dollars intended to remove poverty in this state, and instead spend it on each other and celebrity figures and corporations and their favorite institutions.”

    Mississippi politics has for years been dominated by Republicans who tend to be skeptical about the efficacy of the federal welfare system. Their concern about the potential misuse of federal funds by poor people has resulted in the enactment of strict safeguards to prevent fraud, and the state has been particularly careful about which poor people can get aid: An article from ThinkProgress, a progressive news site, found that in 2016, only 167 of the 11,700 Mississippi families who applied for a TANF payment were approved.

    Critics say that the abuse that has occurred in Mississippi should have been foreseen when the old welfare system, which gave cash benefits to poor families, was replaced in 1996 by a system of block grants issued to the states, giving them much more leeway on how to spend the money.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been examining the scandal for more than two years, according to Logan Reeves, a spokesman for the state auditor’s office. This month, Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to focus on Mr. Favre and Mr. Bryant, writing that the latter “has clearly taken actions consistent with ensuring Mississippi’s poorest citizens are denied welfare funds meant to benefit their households.”

    “The people of Mississippi deserve answers,” Mr. Thompson wrote.

    Mr. Bryant did not immediately respond to a message on Saturday, but in a previous statement this month prompted by Mr. Thompson’s letter, a representative for Mr. Bryant said he denied any wrongdoing. “These allegations made against Gov. Bryant are false,” the statement said. “Every claim against these individuals was discovered and prosecuted as a result of an investigation Gov. Bryant requested of the state auditor.”

    In April, Mississippi Today reported that $1.7 million in welfare money went to a pharmaceutical company Mr. Favre had invested in, and that Mr. Bryant, who knew that public funds were going to the company, had agreed to take stock in the company just after leaving office. (In the end, the news service reported, Mr. Bryant did not take the stock.)

    Efforts to reach Mr. Favre on Saturday were unsuccessful. Officials said at the time the audit was released that there was no evidence indicating that Mr. Favre knew the money he had received from the nonprofit for the speaking fees had come from welfare funds.
     
  41. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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  42. DUCKMOUTH

    DUCKMOUTH People don’t you know, don’t you know
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    Fuck all them


    Defendant: Gov. Tate Reeves should be target of welfare lawsuit — not in charge of it
    An aggressive new filing in the state’s ongoing civil suit asks the court to look at whether Gov. Tate Reeves caused his fitness trainer Paul Lacoste, a defendant in the lawsuit, to receive improper welfare payments from the state and whether Reeves himself should be a defendant in the suit.
    by Anna Wolfe, Mississippi Today
    August 16, 2022

    by Anna Wolfe August 16, 2022
    [​IMG]
    Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on April 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
    A defendant in Mississippi’s civil lawsuit to recoup millions in misspent welfare money is asking the court to examine whether Gov. Tate Reeves is controlling the case to protect himself and his supporters.

    After Mississippi Today uncovered text messages Friday that connect the current governor to the funding of a defendant in the case, attorney Jim Waide argued Monday that Reeves should be a target of the lawsuit — not in charge of it.

    The texts show former welfare director John Davis, who is facing criminal charges in the welfare scandal, said he was fulfilling then-Lt. Gov. Reeves’ wishes when he funneled over $1 million to Reeves’ fitness trainer, a defendant in the suit.

    READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves inspired welfare payment targeted in civil suit, texts show

    The Reeves administration also recently fired the attorney bringing the welfare suit, former U.S. Attorney Brad Pigott, after the attorney attempted to subpoena the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for its communication with, among others, former Gov. Phil Bryant. Bryant oversaw the welfare department when the scandal occurred.

    Reeves’ staff had already forced Pigott to remove the athletic foundation, whose board is made up of many Reeves supporters and campaign donors, from the suit before he filed it.

    “It is an abuse of power for Governor Reeves to frustrate a state agency’s collecting monies owed it in order to protect his financial supporters,” wrote Waide, the Tupelo-based attorney representing Davis’ nephew Austin Smith, who received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the agency during his uncle’s administration. “It is an abuse of power for Governor Reeves to direct litigation in which he is a necessary party defendant.”

    The suit targets 38 individuals or companies, including former NFL quarterback Brett Favre and three retired WWE wrestlers, in an attempt to claw back about $24 million in misspent funds from a federal block grant called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, which is supposed to serve the state’s poorest residents. The suit is based on a forensic audit that found $77 million worth of fraud or misspending. There are separate criminal cases against six defendants, four of whom have pleaded guilty and agreed to aid prosecutors in the ongoing state and federal criminal investigations.

    Mississippi Today’s investigation “The Backchannel” provides evidence of former Gov. Bryant’s involvement in the scandal and one of the defendants in both the civil and criminal cases, nonprofit founder Nancy New, alleged that Bryant directed her to pay Favre. State and federal authorities reached their plea deal with New days after Mississippi Today’s series finished publishing in April.

    Pigott, who had been on the civil case for a year and filed the suit in May, told Mississippi Today he believed his firing was political. Reeves confirmed as much, saying he believed Pigott, a semi-retired former President Bill Clinton appointee, was the one with a political agenda.

    Mississippi Department of Human Services, the agency bringing the lawsuit, is prepared to hire Jackson-based law firm Jones Walker to replace Pigott on the case. The State Personnel Board is expected to review the contract, which the Attorney General must also approve, at its Aug. 18 meeting. MDHS has not released the contract or its dollar amount.

    “MDHS worked quickly to identify a firm that would continue the important civil litigation,” reads a statement from the agency.

    In a motion opposing Pigott’s withdrawal, Waide argues that Reeves has an interest in protecting members of the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation, which is curiously absent from the suit despite receiving $5 million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium on campus on behalf of Favre – an alleged violation of federal regulations, at the least. Mississippi Today reported that several members of the foundation’s board are Reeves campaign donors.

    Citing a recent Mississippi Today article, Waide also asserts that Reeves “also has a financial interest in this case because he played a substantial role in obtaining welfare funds (TANF funds) for Defendant Paul Victor Lacoste.”

    Waide’s filing Monday asks for a hearing to determine:

    • Whether Reeves unlawfully caused Pigott’s firing because Pigott was gathering evidence against Reeves supporters
    • Whether Reeves caused the allegedly illegal payments to Lacoste, and should therefore be added as a defendant to the suit
    • Whether Reeves is trying to steer the department to hire a new firm that will protect his supporters and focus on lower-level figures
    • Whether the court should intervene to prevent Reeves from controlling the case
    • Whether the state should be forced to hire a new firm on a contingency basis only to prevent any more use of taxpayer money on the case
    Waide, who filed a similar motion in Julyarguing that Bryant should be a defendant in the suit based on Mississippi Today’s reporting, also said in his most recent filing that most of the current defendants do not have the assets necessary for the state to successfully recoup damages.

    But the civil suit also serves the purpose of finding answers for the public, especially since there have been no criminal trials more than two years after the initial arrests.

    Pigott had set several dates in the following weeks for depositions in the civil case, but the state has since canceled those. Meanwhile, Davis has filed a motion to stay, which is pending and will determine if the case will be postponed until after the criminal cases conclude.

    Waide also filed on Monday a separate objection to Davis’ motion to stay, arguing that any delay is not in the public interest.

    “A stay will delay and frustrate discovery so as to cause all necessary defendants not to be joined, including both former Governor Bryant and Governor Reeves,” Waide wrote.

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  43. BudKilmer

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    I think to clear this all up we should execute Favre and Tate
     
  44. southlick

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  45. DUCKMOUTH

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    His daughter played volleyball at Southern Miss and they funneled the welfare money to school for a new volleyball facility. Such a piece of shit
     
  46. DUCKMOUTH

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    His wife had breast cancer many years ago and started a charity for free breast cancer mammograms, etc. it’s been rumored for years that they skimmed money from that too.
     
  47. bertwing

    bertwing check out the nametag grandma
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    I will be burning my wranglers in protest of this deplorable man
     
  48. DUCKMOUTH

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    don’t forget your copper fit wrist bracelet