(NewsNation) — NFL Hall-of-Famer Brett Favre may have just taken a crushing hit in the Mississippi welfare fraud case in which the former Green Bay Packer quarterback is allegedly a key player.
Former Mississippi welfare official John Davis, who was director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, took a plea deal with investigators. Davis will plead guilty to welfare fraud and has agreed to cooperate with investigators.
That could spell bad news for Favre in the $70 million welfare scheme in which he is alleged to have conspired to funnel $5 million of welfare money to build a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was playing.
“In a scheme where two of the people have already plead guilty and are going to be sentenced to prison and they are cooperating… one way to get a lesser sentence is to turn on a bigger fish,” said Florida state attorney Dave Aronberg. “Who is the biggest fish in Mississippi other than the governor or former governor? How about football star Brett Favre.”
Favre has repeatedly denied his involvement, but the release of text messages between Favre and former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and other Mississippi officials were damning for Favre’s case.
Favre texted one official, saying, “If you were to pay me, is there any way the media can find out where it came from and how much?”