Sam Greene/Cincinnati Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Favre scandal is still unfolding.
The center of the Brett Favre welfare scandal in Mississippi has been the speaking money paid to him by the state, and how funds were re-routed from the needy into the pockets of some of the state’s most-wealthy residents. However, a side story to the entire scandal has been “Prevacus,” an experimental concussion drug which Favre was instrumental in garnering support for — and now it involves the Trump White House.
Former Mississippi governor Phil Bryant, who is also a key figure in the welfare fraud case, sent text messages to Favre discussing the need to get Trump’s support for Prevacus. Additional text messages show that Prevacus founder Jacob VanLanginham was working with Favre and Bryant to organize a White House summit on youth brain safety, which, surprise, would be led by Prevacus. The idea was to make solving the concussion crisis synonymous with the drug, thereby landing new investment — especially if it appeared that the White House was backing Prevacus.
The experimental drug was pre-trial. No evidence of its efficacy had been posted, and claims it could solve concussions were questionable at best. Still, Favre worked overtime to try and get funding at a state and federal level, with text messages to Bryant showing his transparent motivations.
“I’ve invested 850k of my own and I believe 100% in Jake and this drug but he needs funding like now,” Favre texted Bryant on Nov. 27, 2018. “So obviously any help from you is needed immediately!!!”
The group wanted to garner huge celebrity support for Prevacus, with hopes that Tom Brady, Hershel Walker and Tiger Woods would appear at the proposed White House concussion summit.
“They intend at this moment to have the president greet us in the Oval Office,” he wrote. “Now this is early in the planning but we look strong for it. We need to get all our team athletes together for this and win!!!”
Following news of the welfare scheme, Prevacus was sold to Florida-based Odyssey Health, who scrubbed any mention of Favre of VanLandingham from their website. They have yet to remove posts from their list of press releases, which clearly use both Favre and VanLandingham to market their products.
It’s unclear whether the planned White House summit advanced any further than text messages between Favre, Bryant and VanLandingham. When reached for comment from ESPN about trying to get the president on board a spokesperson for Favre furthered the notion that his motivation wasn’t money, but helping children.
“What’s the issue with trying to work with the government to solve concussions?” a spokesman for Favre told ESPN on Thursday.
Favre continues to maintain innocence in the Mississippi welfare scandal and is demanding a jury trial to clear his name.
