JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre is asking to be removed from a lawsuit by the state of Mississippi that seeks to recover millions of dollars in misspent welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S.

An attorney for Favre filed papers on Monday saying the Mississippi Department of Human Services “groundlessly and irresponsibly seeks to blame Favre for its own grossly improper and unlawful handling of welfare funds and its own failure to properly monitor and audit” how organizations used the money.

“Including Favre in this lawsuit has had the intended effect — it has attracted national media attention to this case,” Favre’s attorney, Eric D. Herschmann, wrote in the filing in Hinds County Circuit Court.

Herschmann wrote that the lawsuit focuses on the welfare agency’s “false insinuations concerning Favre’s supposed involvement” rather than on the agency, “which in fact is responsible for allowing this scandal to occur.”