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“It’s, I think, just a weight off his chest,” said Sidney
Lampton, who represented DiBiase. “The jury got it right.”
A federal indictment had accused DiBiase of fraudulently
obtaining millions of federal welfare dollars and using the
money for his own personal gain, including the purchase of a
vehicle, boat and home down payment.
“While I remain confident in our case, I respect the jury’s
verdict,” U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger said. “I commend the
prosecution team for their diligent efforts.”
DiBiase, a WWE wrestler in the 2000s and 2010s, is the only
person charged in the scandal to face trial.
The welfare scandal came to light in 2020 when the former
director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, John
Davis, was indicted on fraud and embezzlement charges alongside
several others, including DiBiase's brother, former pro wrestler
Brett DiBiase.
Federal indictments accused Davis of directing the federal
dollars to two nonprofits, which then awarded “sham contracts”
to various people and organizations, including several companies
owned by DiBiase, for social services that were never provided.
DiBiase’s companies were awarded more than $2 million in
contracts for services that included leadership outreach, an
emergency food assistance assessment and a program for
inner-city youth, according to the indictment.
Much of the money came from two federal safety-net programs,
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Emergency Food
Assistance Program, and was intended to help some of the poorest
people in the nation.
More than $77 million in TANF funds were misspent, according to
the Mississippi state auditor.
Davis, multiple nonprofit executives and Brett DiBiase have all
pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme.
The scandal also ensnared several high-profile individuals,
including former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and retired NFL
quarterback Brett Favre. Both Bryant and Favre have denied
wrongdoing and neither have been criminally charged.
Favre, the DiBiase brothers and their father, a former pro
wrestler known as the “Million Dollar Man,” Ted DiBiase Sr., are
among dozens of defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi
Department of Human Services in an attempt to recover more than
$20 million in misspent money.
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