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Former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase plead guilty in federal court this past Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to defraud the government. DiBiase was among those indicted last year as part of a scandal for the Mississippi Department of Human Services, which saw the former director of the state welfare agency and five others charged in one of the biggest embezzlement scandals in the history of the office. As PWInsider.com reported at the time, it was alleged that Brett was given funds to go to a drug treatment facility in Malibu that was earmarked for Mississippi's welfare programs. DiBiase later admitted that was true.
The Associated Press later ran a follow-up story on the DiBiase family connection based on a revelation that WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase Sr.'s non-profit religious organization, Heart of David Ministries, had reportedly received more than $2.1 million in welfare from the state of Mississippi after his son Brett began working for the State. The organization had received just $5,000 in grants in 2013, but pulled in $271,000 in welfare money, the same year Brett was hired as a senior official at the Mississippi Department of Human Services. DiBiase’s group received as much as $900,000 one year. According to the article, Heart of David Ministries spent all $2,126,739 it had received from May 2017 through earlier this budget year.
DiBiase Sr. was paid $84,517 as president of the organization. Heart of David Ministries pledged in a 2018 contract to “establish a network of partnerships, services and resources throughout Mississippi communities for faith-based and self activities" but there is no word on how the money was actually used. At the same time it was receiving money from the State of Mississippi, 98% of welfare requests were being turned down by the State. The Ministry was no longer receiving any aid from the State, according to the AP. According to the AP article at the time, a woman who answered the door at the home of Ted DiBiase Sr. in Clinton, MS called the Clarion Ledger (the newspaper which initially broke the news) past reporting “fictitious.” but declined to comment.
The AP article also revealed that the Mississippi Community Education Center also paid Brett DiBiase’s brother, former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr., to provide training to human services employees in late 2018 and early 2019. In August 2022, the United States Federal Government sought to seize the $1.5 million Madison, MS home of Brett's brother, former WWE star Ted DiBiase Jr. While DiBiase Jr. is not accused of a crime, federal agents did step in to prevent him from selling his home a week before that sale was to be completed.
Brett DiBiase will be sentenced at a later time.
Ted DiBiase Sr. and Ted DiBiase Jr. have not been charged.
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