According to WLBT-TV in Jacksonville, MS, on Thursday, Brett DiBiase, son of WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase has pled guilty to federal charges in connection with the state’s largest welfare embezzlement scandal.
DiBiase had previously pled guilty to two charges in Hinds County Circuit Court. In addition to his sentence in state court, he could spend up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The report also notes that All three pleas are tied to DiBiase’s involvement in the largest public embezzlement scheme in the state’s history.
DiBiase was paid $48,000 through his business Restore2, LLC, using a series of fraudulent and false claims to receive the payment. He was also further accused of helping cover up these payments by falsifying documents, invoices, books, reports and ledgers.
WLBT further notes that investigators stated former DHS workers created invoices to pay DiBiase for teaching classes about drug abuse, but he did not do that and instead was at a luxury rehab facility in California.
Per WREG-TV in Memphis, DiBiase pled guilty in December 2020 to a state charge of making false representations to defraud the government. However, it was said state sentencing was delayed, as DiBiase had been cooperating with state and federal investigators and looking at others in the case, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said.
Owens and Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced DiBiase’s federal guilty plea on Thursday.
“I applaud our federal partners for continuing to pursue federal charges for each and every individual responsible for stealing from Mississippi’s most needy and vulnerable citizens,” Owens said Thursday. “This case is far from over and both the state of Mississippi and the U.S. government will continue to pursue all those involved in this fraud, regardless of their position or standing.”
WREG also notes the following in their report as it relates to this matter:
-John Davis, who was Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director from 2016 to mid-2019, had plead guilty in September 2022 to state and federal charges tied to misspending of money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.
-Davis’ state court charges were mostly tied to welfare money spent on DiBiase, including $160,000 for DiBiase’s drug rehabilitation in Malibu, California.
-Davis, DiBiase and four other people were indicted on state charges in the welfare misspending case back in February 2020.
-Two of those indicted, a mother and son – Nancy and Zachary New – who ran a nonprofit organization and an education company, plead guilty in April 2022 to state charges of misusing welfare money, including on lavish gifts such as the first-class airfare for Davis. They ran the organization which funneled welfare money for DiBiase’s drug rehab. The mother and son agreed to testify against others.
Furthermore, WREG’s report notes this welfare scandal is also tied to NFL quarterback Brett Farve , who lives in Mississippi. Favre has not faced criminal charges but is one of more than three dozen defendants in a civil lawsuit
It is being said in the report by WREG that welfare money helped fund pet projects of the wealthy, including $5 million for a volleyball arena that Favre supported at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, according to the state auditor said. Favre’s daughter played volleyball at the school starting back in 2017.
Brett DiBiase spent the majority of his wrestling career in WWE’s former developmental territory – FCW between 2008 and 2011.