Former wrestler charged in Mississippi welfare fraud case

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Presss

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A new federal indictment says companies run by a former professional wrestler received “sham contracts” in Mississippi and misspent millions of dollars of welfare money that was supposed to help some of the neediest people in the U.S. The indictment of former wrestler Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. was unsealed Thursday, two days after it was issued by a grand jury in Jackson. It is the latest development in a sprawling Mississippi corruption case involving wealthy and well-connected people receiving contracts from the state Department of Human Services from 2016 to 2019. DiBiase was a WWE wrestler in the 2000s and 2010s.