The son of wrestling’s “Million Dollar Man” may be ready to take up his father’s infamous moniker—but for entirely different reasons.
Theodore DiBiase Jr., better known as Ted Dibiase Jr. during his six-year stint in WWE, has been charged with misappropriating millions of federal dollars meant to support families in need in Mississippi.
Between 2016 and 2019, Mississippi’s Department of Human Services allocated $77 million in federal money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program to two nonprofits based in the state. The nonprofits, the Family Resource Center of North Mississippi Inc. and the Mississippi Community Education Center, were then tasked with awarding those funds to entities that would provide various social services meant to help those in need.
But instead, the funds were handed to individuals who allegedly used the money for their own gain. At least five contracts were given to DiBiase’s companies Priceless Ventures LLC and Familiae Orientem LLC for “social services that DiBiase did not provide and did not intend to provide,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.
“DiBiase allegedly used these federal funds to buy a vehicle and a boat, and for the down payment on the purchase of a house, among other expenditures,” according to a press release from the Justice Department.
The former WWE star is charged with six counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, four counts of money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. He’s one of at least four people charged with co-conspiring in the scheme, including the former head of Mississippi’s Department of Human Services John Davis.
If convicted, DiBiase faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy count, a maximum of 20 years for each count of wire fraud, and a maximum of 10 years for each count of theft and money laundering.
Known for his short but high-profile tenure with the WWE in the late 2000s, DiBiase was seen as a top prospect and future world champion for the organization. His father, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, was known for playing an impossibly rich scumbag who’d pay audience members to do humiliating things like bark like a dog. DiBiase Sr. was one of the most popular wrestlers in the world during the sport’s boom in the 1980s and 1990s.
Shortly after DiBiase Jr.’s television debut in 2008, the third-generation wrestler was paired with fellow third-generation talent Randy Orton, and second-generation wrestler Cody Rhodes. Together, the trio formed a villainous faction of handsome nepo-baby grapplers known as “Legacy.”
While DiBiase made the most of his time with the company, even starring in one of their in-house straight-to-DVD action flicks, plans to make him a top star for the biggest wrestling promotion company in the world never came to fruition. He’d eventually leave the company in 2013.
The scam DiBiase is accused of participating in is the largest corruption case in Mississippi history, according to the Clarion Ledger. DiBiase Sr. and his other son Brett DiBiase, were both allegedly involved in the scheme and were among 34 people named in a $20 million lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services last year.
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The DiBiases aren’t the only public figures allegedly involved in the scheme. Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre obtained over a million dollars in funds from the same non-profit that the former wrestler allegedly did, but for speaking engagements that never took place. While Favre avoided criminal charges, he was forced to pay back $1.1 million to the state last fall.
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