Ex-WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr. purchased $1M home, boat with stolen welfare funds in Mississippis largest fraud case: prosecutors
An ex-WWE star purchased a million-dollar mansion, among other luxury buys, as he stole millions of dollars in federal welfare funds earmarked for social services in Mississippi’s largest-ever public corruption scheme, prosecutors alleged.Ted DiBiase Jr., whose father is WWE legend ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase Sr., is facing decades behind bars as prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday.DiBiase used the misused funds to purchase a $1.4 million home, a $55,000 pontoon boat, a $34,000 Kubota tractor and a $40,000 truck, AL.com reported.Lawyers for DiBiase, who performed for the WWE from 2008-2013, argued the prosecutors had not shown enough evidence to convict him.The federal judge overseeing the trial denied the request to dismiss the charges.DiBiase, 43, is at the center of the alleged fraud where he was awarded upwards of $3 million from co-conspirator John Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, according to AL.com.Davis, who had pleaded guilty to both state and federal charges in the scandal, dispersed money from the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.The funds were then shared among two other co-conspirators, Christi Webb and Nancy New, who awarded “sham contracts” to different businesses, including five of the bogus contracts to DiBiase’s shell corporations, Priceless Ventures LLC and Familiae Orientem LLC.DiBiase received $3 million between 2017 and 2018.Webb and New have both pleaded guilty to their charges, pointing fingers, claiming Davis had urged them to funnel the money to DiBiase.Federal prosecutors accused DiBiase of “misappropriating millions of dollars in federal safety-net funds intended for needy families and low-income individuals in Mississippi.”DiBiase claimed the money was being used to develop an app for the state Department of Health and Human Services to combat poverty, WLBT reported.Kevin McLendon, the owner of a...