This is the book NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre DOES NOT want you to read. Shad White is the Mississippi state auditor who exposed Favre for his involvement in the diversion of millions of dollars in TANF money- money meant to aid the poorest people in the nation's poorest state-in order to build a deluxe volleyball facility at his college alma mater. But Favre was only part of a much larger coverup. Now, in MISSISSIPPI SWINDLE: Brett Favre and the Welfare Scandal that Shocked America (Steerforth Press; August 6, 2024), White tells the riveting story of how a small group of powerbrokers enriched themselves by misdirecting nearly $100 million in federal money, and how White led a scrappy team of investigators and auditors to bring the culprits to justice. White's office unmasks a sprawling conspiracy that stretches from Mississippi to Malibu and involves famous athletes, media personalities, and public officials. -more- Born and raised in Mississippi, White won a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a JD from Harvard. He returned to Mississippi and became the youngest state auditor in the country. Eleven months after his appointment, he received a tip that would lead his team to uncover the largest public fraud case in Mississippi history. At the scheme's heart was John Davis, the head of the state's Department of Human Services. Through the agency, Davis provided tens of millions of dollars of funding, meant to provide services for the state's poor, to organizations run by a woman named Nancy New. White discovered that Davis, New, and a cadre of family and friends collected that money to fund their lavish lifestyles that included a home, vacations, and luxury cars. White and his team also discovered the New family had spread money so widely around the community that it was in plenty of people's best interest to not question it. Charity after charity received TANF funds-from local high school bands and beauty pageants, to the Junior League of Jackson and sports booster clubs, to the millions of dollars for the volleyball facility, via Brett Favre's influence. MISSISSIPPI SWINDLE is a story of how power is acquired and maintained. For White, some of those in power sought to maintain it by pressuring him to "handle the case quietly." Favre himself dug in, issuing denial after denial, and later using his celebrity bullhorn and an army of lawyers in an unsuccessful bid to intimidate White and his family. It's also the story of the corrosive nature of fraud that's at the heart of Americans' loss of faith in their institutions. White offers the good news that the remedy resides with the people who can put a stop to that fraud and convince everyday Americans they are being treated fairly and their money is being protected.
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