Sage Rosenfels threw a perfect deep strike in regard to former teammate Brett Favre’s welfare fraud case.
Rosenfels was a backup quarterback on the 2009 Vikings behind Favre, who has been accused of arranging to redirect $5 million in public funds in 2017 to the construction of a volleyball arena at Southern Mississippi, where his daughter was a student-athlete on the team.
“Since retirement, I have been lucky to avoid stealing millions of dollars from the poorest people in my state,” Rosenfels wrote Thursday on Twitter.
Two hours later, the 44-year-old Rosenfels also made a self-deprecating joke on the social media site, writing, “Of course, this is partially because I had already stolen millions from the richest people in our country.”
In all, $77 million reportedly was funneled away from a federal program intended to aid needy families in Mississippi, ranked among the poorest states in the country. The Mississippi Department of Human Services is suing up to 40 people in the case. That includes Favre, the Hall of Fame quarterback who played one season for the Jets in 2008 following 16 years with the Packers.
Another key figure in the scandal, former Mississippi welfare director John Davis, pleaded guilty Thursday to federal fraud charges in a potential cooperation agreement, NBC reported. Davis agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and theft, which hold a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, according to court documents.
“At Davis’s direction, (Mississippi’s welfare agency) provided federal funds to two nonprofit organizations and then directed the two nonprofit organizations to fraudulently award contracts to various entities and individuals for social services that were never provided,” the Justice Department said in the news release.
NBC News previously had reported that Davis was directly involved in discussions with Favre and then-governor Phil Bryant about securing millions for the volleyball facility.
Recently revealed text messages from August 2017 between Favre and Southern Miss athletic staffer Nancy New indicated that Favre was concerned about the alleged arrangement becoming public.
“If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?” Favre wrote, according to court documents filed last week in Jackson.
“No, we never have had that information publicized. I understand you being uneasy about that though. Let’s see what happens on Monday with the conversation with some of the folks at Southern. Maybe it will click with them. Hopefully,” New responded.
Favre replied: “Ok thanks,” and the following day, New texted him: “Wow, just got off the phone with Phil Bryant! He is on board with us! We will get this done!”
To which Favre responded: “Awesome I needed to hear that for sure.”