Former WWE Wrestler DiBiase Charged In Mississippi Welfare Scandal That Ensnared Brett Favre

Topline

Former professional wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr. was charged with fraud this week for allegedly redirecting federal welfare funds in Mississippi for personal use, the Department of Justice announced Thursday, the latest criminal charges in a broader welfare scandal that has drawn scrutiny to Mississippi government officials and retired NFL star Brett Favre.

Former wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr. is the son of the WWE legend known as “The Million Dollar Man.”

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Key Facts

DiBiase and his companies allegedly received “sham contracts” from a Mississippi nonprofit organization that was supposed to be allocating federal money to poor women and children, but may have also been making major payments to professional athletes, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.

DiBiase, along with several individuals who ran the nonprofit organizations and former Mississippi Department of Human Services Executive Director John Davis, are accused of misappropriating the federal funds for “their own personal use and benefit”—-DiBiase allegedly used the money to buy a vehicle, a boat and a down payment on a house, prosecutors said in the indictment.

DiBiase, the 40-year-old son of WWE legend Ted DiBiase Sr., known as “The Million Dollar Man,” was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft of federal funds, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft of federal funds and four counts of money laundering.

If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy count, 20 years maximum for each wire fraud count and 10 years maximum for each theft count, according to a DOJ statement.

Forbes reached out to DiBiase’s attorney for comment.

Key Background

In February 2020, state officials in Mississippi arrested six people, including former Human Services director Davis, for allegedly mishandling funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. In May, the State Auditor’s office reported $94 million in questionable spending by the department, the majority of which was funneled through two nonprofits. The federal funding then allegedly became available to groups linked to at least two retired athletes, DiBiase and Favre. Mississippi Today reported Davis encouraged the nonprofits to pay large sums to DiBiase, his father and his brother, Brett, for work they didn’t do. Emails suggest Davis and Ted DiBiase Jr. had gone into business together, developing a motivational training program called Law of 16 that they developed using funds from the nonprofit. Ted DiBiase Jr.’s charges come roughly a month after his brother, Brett, pleaded guilty to a federal charge that involved Ted Jr. as an alleged co-conspirator.

Tangent

The wrestler is the second retired athlete to be involved in the case, after the state accused Former Green Bay Packers quarterback and Hall of Famer Brett Favre in a civil lawsuit of diverting roughly $8 million in federal funds to himself for various purposes. The former football player has denied all wrongdoing in the case and has not been criminally charged. Between 2016 and 2018, the nonprofit Mississippi Community Education Center doled out $5 million to the University of Southern Mississippi, where Favre and his daughter both attended, to pay for a new volleyball court. In September 2022, Mississippi Today published text messages between Favre, former Gov. Phil Bryant and nonprofit founder Nancy New showing Favre requested the funds be sent to his alma mater and asked for it to be kept secret from the media. The nonprofit also reportedly paid him $1.1 million to promote a program called Families First, and federal welfare funds were allegedly invested in a pharmaceutical company that Favre had a stake in.

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