The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A federal indictment was unsealed today in Mississippi charging a former professional wrestler with misappropriating millions of dollars in federal safety-net funds intended for needy families and low-income individuals in Mississippi.
According to court documents, Theodore Marvin DiBiase Jr., 40, of Madison, along with co-conspirators John Davis, Christi Webb, Nancy New, and others, are alleged to have fraudulently obtained federal funds – including from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program – that they misappropriated for their own personal use and benefit.
Davis was the executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS). As part of the alleged scheme, after federal funds were issued to MDHS, Davis directed MDHS to subgrant the funds to two nonprofit organizations, Family Resource Center of North Mississippi Inc. (FRC) and Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC), which were operated by Webb and New, respectively. Davis then allegedly directed Webb and New to award sham contracts to various individuals and entities purportedly for the delivery of social services, including at least five sham contracts that were awarded to DiBiase’s companies, Priceless Ventures LLC and Familiae Orientem LLC.
As further alleged in the indictment, under these sham contracts, FRC and MCEC provided millions of dollars in federal funds from MDHS to DiBiase and his companies for social services that DiBiase did not provide and did not intend to provide. DiBiase allegedly used these federal funds to buy a vehicle and a boat, and for the down payment on the purchase of a house, among other expenditures.
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 convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy count, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count, and 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.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca for the Southern District of Mississippi, Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the FBI Jackson Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Tamala Miles of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Special Agent in Charge Dax Roberson of the Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General (USDA-OIG), and Special Agent in Charge James E. Dorsey of the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Atlanta Field Office made the announcement.
The FBI, HHS-OIG, USDA-OIG, and IRS-CI are investigating the case.
Trial Attorney Adrienne E. Rosen of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Trial Attorney Della Sentilles of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dave Fulcher and John Meynardie for the Southern District of Mississippi are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Kingfish note: That was the press release, now for some more news.
The indictment alleges the fraud took place between June 2017 and October 2018. Priceless and Familiae had five phony contracts with FRC (Webb) and MCEC (New). Dibiase allegedly misused the funds to purchase a boat and a truck while making a down payment on a swanky house in Madison County.
The alleged acts of fraud are:
May 15, 2018: FRC entered into a sham contract with Dibiase through Priceless (P) for $500,000 for leadership outreach services. FRC paid Dibiase that day.
May 17, 2018: MCEC paid $500,000 to P again. Dibiase deposited $1,020,833 million in said funds into the checking account for P.
May 22, 2018: FRC entered into another phony contract with the Dibiase scion for $497,987 to assess the need for emergency food assistance.
June 26, 2018: FRC entered into a million-dollar sham contract with Familiae the day after it formed.
October 1, 2018: MCEC entered into a bogus contract with Dibiase and P for $250,000.
June 6, 2018: Dibiase allegedly embezzled $700,000 of DHS funds through MCEC and FRC.
October 30, 2018: $697,750 of FRC transferred to the Familiae account at Renasant Bank.
November 16, 2018: $401,304 transferred from the Familiae account to Dibiase's account at the same bank.
County 9 charges Dibiase with stealing $401,304 in FRC funds.
The Justice Department seeks the forfeiture of his 115, Rosedown, Madison home.
43 comments:
Pretty soon all of Phil and Deb's friends will be in the pokey.
This whole DHS thing could cost Tate the governor's race. They are going to tie this thing around his neck. To be perferctly honest I hope they do
Reckon Farve is one of the unnamed others?
Wrong way to become a Million Dollar Man.
just looked up his house on zillow, that is a nice ass house!
This is just the beginning, Polite is directing this from Washington and he always gets his man. Whoever is in his sights , be it Phil, Brett or the Boogie Man they can wait for the knock on the door.
All while the Auditor is fighting DEI
Yawn…. Where’s Feel ?
@4:03. Yep, it's insane! He probably could've had all that the honest way if he had just invested his earnings wisely from years ago. Look where it's got him now! SMH
@338 -- gonna be hard to get that noose over Taters neck, much less tighten it.
He, as LG, has as little to do with the day to day functioning of DHS as Presley (Elvis' distant cousin, that one) did as PSC.
Just like the Jackson Mayor fiasco - the Executive (in this case, Governor) runs and directs the agencies. The Legislative (in this case, LG) only appropriates; cannot direct the agency director to do crap.
Yes, you and Anna may try to find ways to lasso Tater into this trap, but that effort is just like much of the other crap that Donna directs her 'non-profit, non-partisian' (gosh, that almost But just cause Anna tries to connect the dots, her effort is about as good as a two-year old playing on the placemats at IHOP. And the two-year-old kid actually has a map with numbers that allow one to get from point a to b; Anna just makes it up.
5:05. Lol. This is such a ridiculous post. I feel like I’m reading a selection from a rejected b movie script.
Why is everyone (lots of people here anyway) hell bent on sticking up for these frauds who stole money from the govt?
Had any of these thieves been black or a member of the democrat party this site would shut down due to the traffic and calls for the death penalty.
And Gilbert is a fine lawyer but he will walk a plea deal up to the judge in the not so distant future.
“Every Man Has a Price: The True Story of Wrestling’s Million-Dollar Man.”
You just can't make this stuff up. Bubba buys the Steroids n Lies, every single time.
12 crosses on the back patio, for all the neighbors to see!
Just remember the second part of that:
Everyone's got a price.
Everyone's got to pay.
I live in Reunion, and I think this Dibiase (sp) is a neighbor of mine.
Hopefully our state will recoup more wrongfully spent monies from other guilty parties since it just recently
purged many off Medicaid enrollment and continues to block Medicaid expansion for low income workers that make minimum wage and do jobs that others don’t want to. Too bad these low paying workers don’t have state health insurance benefits like the brilliant politicians that block these benefits that they receive at the expense of tax payers.
What happens to the man who teaches jazzercise?
I suspect even Phil the whistleblower knows his glasses down his nose former deputy sheriff made good former State Auditor former Governor family values conservative shtick only works to fool low information voters.
Next thing we are likely to hear out of Phil the whistleblower is a guilty plea in front of a federal judge.
This isn’t what will defeat Tate. His unwillingness to save our rural hospitals will be what beats him. His failure to expand Medicare is why I will be voting for a democrat for governor for the first time in my life. This welfare scandal is just another nail in his coffin. Hopefully they will also get former governor “Phil” in the same net. They both need to answer for this misuse of our taxpayers money.
I've been pre-occupied with twice-daily breaking announcements about Jackson's mair - I thought this wrestler guy had been indicted long ago.
Yep, young Shadrack is busy providing lessons on morality. Gotta do whatever it takes to salvage relevance.
On the bright side, nice houses with great views in Reunion in Madison the town generally sell very quickly. This was sent for the benefit of his defense attorneys.
5:00pm for the win!
5:43 - Nope. Tater, as LG, has zero executive power to make any agency do anything. This scandal resides in the executive branch. The only evidence publicly known about Tater is a text message saying (paraphrasing here) that he doesn't give a crap about one of the alleged conspirators.
I shouldn't have to explain this to an intelligent adult, but I will explain it to you; it is perfectly legal to have negative opinions about people, especially people who have a negative opinion of you.
If his antics leaving court yesterday were any indication, he still thinks all of this is a joke.
WAPT article said he tested positive for marijuana and Adderall on yesterday (4/20!)
The wheels of justice grind slow... lets see just how fine.
Rural hospitals are failing due to population loss. Medicaid expansion will not reverse population loss.
Does this mean that pro-wrestling is actually staged?
When Phil tells Brett not to transfer ownership of stock to him until the day after he leaves office...that sort of tells me all I need to know about his slick ass.
He may never be charged or convicted of anything. But at least I know who and what he is.
3:38, Tate Reeves will return for another term unless a stronger Republican enters the race. The Democrat will lose, doesn’t matter who it is. Joe Biden has guaranteed that. I’ve been disappointed in Tate, especially how he handled the state flag controversy but I’ll vote for him to keep any Democrat out.
3:38, Tate Reeves will return for another term unless a stronger Republican enters the race.
Do you actually live in Mississippi?
Depty Pheel i$ too big to fail.
I’m running for high office this election cycle to help my beloved fellow Mississippians and if you think I will get rich, yea! If you think I’d be stupid as Phil no. Just kidding!
The return on investment for an honest politician is not feasible. It’s time to vote out career politicians
@9:31. Same. I voted Democrat once in my life, and that was for a Hinds Co Sheriff's race a number of years back. I will hold my nose and vote for Tater if there's no other choice. I was thinking maybe Gunn was going to run, but I guess not.
Who appointed the director of DHS? Who did the director report to. Who directed Brett to contact the DHS for funds!
Who was Nancy News female friend and fellowUSM grad? If they could just determine who this was they might have a
Guilty party.
@9:31 It's too late for anyone else to enter the race. The governors race is incumbent republican Tate Reeves versus democrat Brandon Presley. Presley is currently the northern district public service commissioner.
If Ted DiBiase Jr. Is indicted I bet the land I own in Simpson County, Lumumba and Sis. Lumumba is right around the block.
Is that “Wrestler’s” house in REUNION, for sale yet? I know his neighbors will be heartbroken to see them leave.
5:43 is a total dumbass if he thinks a governor can’t pressure/force a direct appointee to do something. Been happening since statehood was approved.
@1:44 - Over two years ago I was submitting posts pointing out that the team of Bryant and Bryant were canvassing this state speaking in support of Nancy New and her business acumen. Each of those attempted posts was rejected for publication on this blog.
https://www.wwe.com/videos/ted-dibiase-jr-where-are-they-now
I was not a Tate fan before but he will handily get my vote and support post-Lumumba debacle.
I hope Feel-billy rots in jail someday, but this crime has zero impact on my new found support for Tate.
Anyone know how this house can be purchased? Legitimately, how does the process work and when can it be bought?
@4:27 PM - Call the U.S. Marshal's Office in Jackson.
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