Ted DiBiase Jr. spoke emotionally outside a Mississippi federal courthouse on Thursday after a jury acquitted him on all 13 counts tied to the state's welfare fraud scandal, describing years of personal and family damage brought on by the case.
Seven years of being slandered and made to be something that is completely false — it's about torn my family apart," DiBiase said through tears, speaking to 16 WAPT News Jackson immediately after the verdict was read.
The former WWE tag team champion opened his remarks by crediting his faith, saying "I give all glory to God. I give all the credit to my Lord and Savior" before thanking his legal team. He said he had made peace with any possible outcome before entering the courtroom.
I left it in God's hands and whatever the verdict was today, I was okay with it. Man makes his plans. God directs his steps," he said.
DiBiase described the psychological weight of living under federal scrutiny for years, saying the relief of the verdict still hadn't fully registered. "It still hasn't sunk in. It's just been so long that this cloud has lived over me — and I'm just grateful for it to be over."
He also offered a disarmingly simple vision of what comes next.
I don't know — I might go cut my grass today. I'm gonna live again. I'm gonna continue to serve people, because that really is who I am.
DiBiase was one of several public figures swept up in Mississippi's $77 million welfare fraud scandal. His acquittal on all counts marks the end of a yearslong legal ordeal for the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase Sr.
