Ted DiBiase Jr. Levels Allegation Against Mississippi Governor In Welfare Fraud Case
The welfare scandal involving former WWE wrestler Ted "Teddy" DiBiase Jr. has taken a new turn. DiBiase Jr. is claiming he witnessed Republican Gov. Phil Bryant order an appointee to cut welfare funding for the nonprofit Family Resource Center of North Mississippi because its director supported Democratic challenger Jim Hood in the 2019 governor's race.
According to a Mississippi Today report, the allegation came from a two-year-old federal court filing that was only released last Friday. DiBiase had received millions in federal welfare dollars to conduct various anti-poverty services for two private nonprofits when the state reportedly pulled the program. Federal authorities accused DiBiase of failing to perform the responsibilities of his contract with the state when the Mississippi Department of Human Services "abandoned" the program – Family Resource Center was one of two nonprofits that funded DiBiase's work.
But DiBiase claimed Bryant enacted revenge on Family Resource Center director Christi Webb, a friend of then-Attorney General Hood, who was running against Republican then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves for governor in 2019. Bryant could not run for re-election that year due to the state's term limits law, but he campaigned aggressively for Reeves.
DiBiase, along with his brother Brett DiBiase and their father, WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase, is among 38 parties being sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) in an attempt to reclaim millions of dollars lost in the largest case of welfare fraud in Mississippi. The MDHS said Mississippi Community Education Center and the Family Resource Center wrongly used state funds to pay approximately $5.8 million to members of the DiBiase family, for the benefit of a DiBiase family member, or to entities owned or used by a DiBiase family member between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019.
Brett DiBiase plead guilty in December 2020 to a charge of making fraudulent statements in the case. Last October, Ted DiBiase Jr. was ordered to pay back $3.9 million to the state, Brett DiBiase was ordered to repay $225,950 and the Heart of David Ministries created by their father was ordered to repay $722,299. The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to seize Ted Biase Jr.'s $1.5 million home, claiming it was purchased with the welfare program funds.