Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre has hired a high-powered attorney to represent him in the $70 million welfare fraud scheme in Mississippi.
Eric Herschmann served on former President Donald Trump's first impeachment defense team.
According to CNN, Herschmann said in a statement he agreed to represent the Pro Football Hall of Famer after he did his "independent due diligence." Herschmann also said he was convinced Favre did nothing wrong. Favre was previously represented by lawyer Bud Holmes.
So far, Favre has not been charged or accused of any crime in connection with the scandal.
Favre allegedly received millions for his start-up company and for speeches he never gave from the nation's poorest state. According to NBC, Mississippi paid Favre $1.1 million in 2017 and 2018 to give speeches - out of federal welfare funds intended for needy families. The state's auditor is demanding the money back with interest. NBC reports Favre has paid back the fees, but not the $228,000 in interest.
The Associated Press previously reported Favre denied he was paid for events he didn't attend and said his charity provided millions to poor children in both Mississippi and Wisconsin.
However, as the scandal continues to unfold, ESPN Milwaukee and Sirius XM Radio put Favre's weekly shows and appearances on pause.
Last month, a Mississippi Today report saidthe former governor of Mississippi, Phil Bryant, helped Favre get welfare funds to build a volleyball center at the University of Southern Mississippi.
The report cites text messages filed in the state's lawsuit over misspent welfare funds. The text messages were filed by an attorney representing Nancy New, who has pleaded guilty to her role in the welfare scheme. Nancy New and her son once ran a nonprofit group and an education company in Mississippi that spent millions of dollars in federal welfare funds to help the state.
According to Mississippi Today reporting, the text messages show Favre, Bryant, and New discussed how to move $5 million in welfare funds to build a new volleyball stadium at the University of Southern Mississippi. Favre played at Southern Miss and his daughter was a volleyball player there at the time some of the text messages were sent.
Last week, a new report alleged Favre used $60,000 from his nonprofit disadvantaged children to help pay for a new volleyball gym at his daughter's high school.
The Daily Beast reports the retired Green Bay Packers quarterback's nonprofit Favre4Hope directed the funds to the booster club of suburban Oak Grove, one of the highest-rated high schools in Mississippi.
Two years after the new stadium was built, the contractor filed a lawsuit against the boosters claiming the group still owed them $328,000, the Daily Beast reports. Favre was not listed as a defendant but was named in a letter attached to the civil complaint, the report alleges.
