Ex-WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr facing 145-year jail sentence over charges for ‘stealing millions in federal funds’

Sharma Sampatmal 

Former wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr has been charged for stealing ‘millions of dollars in federal safety-net funds intended for needy families and low-income individuals’.

The 40-year-old ex WWE star, whose real name is Theodore Marvin DiBiase Jr and is the son of Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase, has been charged with a number of charges as confirmed by the United States Department of Justice.

In a press release, the DOJ cited court documents saying that DiBiase Jr has allegedly ‘fraudulently obtained federal funds’.

It’s claimed they ‘misappropriated’ the funds – including from both The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programme – for their ‘own personal use and benefit.

The DOJ’s release reads: ‘DiBiase is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and four counts of money laundering.’

If the former tag team champion is convicted, he could face ‘a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy count’, with ‘a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count’.

He could also face ‘a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and for each count of money laundering’.

According to federal prosecutors, DiBiase received funding from a nonprofit corporation which was allocating millions of federal dollars intended for poor women and children.

The indictment declares the funding a ‘sham’ arrangement with federal safety net funds diverted for the personal use of DiBiase Jr, the state’s former welfare director and ‘others known and unknown to the grand jury’.

It’s said ‘millions of dollars’ were provided for ‘social services that DiBiase did not provide and did not intend to provide’. It’s alleged that DiBiase Jr used the funds ‘to buy a vehicle and a boat, and for the down payment on the purchase of a house, among other expenditures’.

Last month, his brother Ted ‘Teddy’ DiBiase Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government in connection with the scandal.

DiBiase Jr – who spent six years with WWE after signing in 2007 – has not commented on the charges