U.S. women’s national team legend Abby Wambach is divesting herself from a concussion drug company that has been linked to the Mississippi welfare fraud case involving Brett Favre.
The company, Odyssey Health, is a drug company said to be developing a nasal spray designed to treat concussions.
Favre, who is embroiled in a Mississippi state welfare scandal, is one of the company’s top investors. The company itself is at the center of a lawsuit which alleges that approximately $2.1 million in state welfare funds was diverted to the company.
Wambach, a World Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has previously said that she would donate her brain to be used for concussion research after her death. She first appeared to promote the company in 2018, joining Favre, Kurt Warner and company founder Dr. Jacob VanLandingham on the “Today” show to discuss concussions.
When contacted by ESPN about the lawsuit Thursday, Wambach reportedly indicated that she wasn’t aware of the “disturbing information” of the company’s connection to the welfare scandal until asked.
“Minutes after learning this new information, I initiated the process to immediately and fully divest myself from any involvement — financial and otherwise — with Prevacus/Odyssey Health Inc., a process that I insisted be complete by end of day today,” Wambach said in an email to ESPN.
Wambach’s name was later removed from the company’s website.
“Since I genuinely believed this company was being transparent about a product that could spare the next generation of athletes from the severe impact of concussion injuries that I endured as a professional athlete, I am profoundly angry, disappointed, and saddened by what I learned today,” she wrote.
She later told NBC News that she is ending “any involvement” with the company, to be completed by the end of the day Thursday.