Ex-WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr. has been indicted for stealing more than $1.4 million in Mississippi’s massive case of state welfare fraud, according to a report.
DiBiase, the son of WWE legend “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase Sr., faces a long prison sentence if convicted of fraud, according to AL.com.
Prosecutors say that DiBiase, 43, misused welfare funds to buy a $1.4 million home and luxury items, including a $55,000 pontoon boat, a $34,000 Kubota tractor, and a $40,000 truck. He is suspected of “misappropriating millions of dollars in federal safety-net funds intended for needy families and low-income individuals in Mississippi.”
The indictment says that DiBiase received $3 million between 2017 and 2018 from co-conspirator John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
Davis has already pleaded guilty to state and federal charges relating to the misuse of tens of millions of dollars in welfare funding from the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Two others, Christi Webb and Nancy New, have also been implicated in the fraud. Investigators say that Davis was the key figure funneling the cash to DiBiase.
DiBiase has maintained that the funding was for developing an app for the Department of Health and Human Services to fight poverty in Mississippi.
The app, though, has never been finished and delivered to the state.
Davis has testified that he knew all along that DiBiase would never be able to finish the app and that he was unable to fulfill the contract with the state.
State officials have gone after 38 people connected to $24 million in fraud in a larger case that totals at least $77 million in stolen state funding.
The fraud has been connected to several well-known persons, including NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre, ex-University of Oklahoma star Marcus Dupree, and Dibaise’s father and brother, Brett.
DiBiase has proclaimed his innocence and is taking his case to trial. He faces up to 120 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.
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