and those committing the fraud are as usual the usual suspects.
From Breitbart:
Arizona authorities have broken up a massive food stamp fraud ring in Phoenix and seized almost $700,000 in cash.
K&S convenience store workers Kameel Sweiss, Ameer Sweiss, and Faday Sweiss were arrested on Wednesday on charges of suspicion of illegally conducting an enterprise, fraudulent schemes and artifices, money laundering, unlawful use of food stamps, and computer tampering.
"People were essentially selling their cards to [the] store," said spokesperson Stephanie Grisham. .....
From CBSLocalCalifornia:
It’s a welfare fraud scheme costing U.S. taxpayers $750 million a year. People are illegally selling their electronic food stamp cards on Craigslist and other social media sites for cash.
CBS13 found two people here in Sacramento, both with the same idea, using Craigslist as free advertising to blatantly and illegally sell their state benefits.
Our hidden cameras were rolling as a woman, who we’ll call Lorie, told our undercover producer about her brilliant idea to game the system for a quick buck.
“Everyone said I was crazy, but I thought they’d say, ‘that’s freaking brilliant, man,’ ” she said.
Another man, who we’ll call Joe, rolled up on a skateboard. He showed us his CalFresh card he illegally put up for sale on Craigslist.
“See, right now it still has $116 on it,” he told our undercover producer.
Rather than use that money for food like he’s supposed to, Joe offered to sell us the card for just $60 cash......
From JusticeDept Maryland:
....Baltimore, Maryland - A federal grand jury has indicted nine retail store owners or operators on federal charges of food stamp fraud and wire fraud in connection with schemes to illegally redeem food stamp benefits in exchange for cash. The indictments allege the retailers received almost $7 million in federal payments for transactions in which they did not provide any food, a fraud scheme commonly known as “food stamp trafficking.” Stores allegedly split the proceeds with food stamp recipients. The indictments were returned last week and unsealed today. Federal agents arrested the defendants and executed search warrants at the stores and related locations this morning..........
...A multimillion-dollar welfare fraud scheme that has been running rampant in Asian communities throughout the city has been busted, authorities said.
About two dozen delis and bodegas were raided across Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan Wednesday in a joint operation between the federal Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the state Department of Health and the state Attorney General’s Office that uncovered the endemic corruption, sources said.
Sixteen store owners were charged with allegedly purchasing customers’ WIC vouchers and giving the recipient a percentage of the cash value, court documents state..........
From PortlandTribune:
.... Beaverton police detectives and U.S. Department of Agriculture and Office of the Inspector General agents arrested Mahmoud Tajgerdu, 42, Negin Tajgerdu, 23, Bahman Hoshmand, 39, Aziz Darakhshani, 38, all of Beaverton, and Rafik Korkut, 35, of Portland, on various allegations including aggravated theft, unlawfully obtaining supplemental nutritional assistance and perjury involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Mahmoud Tajgerdu is the co-owner of the Beaverton Halal Meat and Mediterranean Groceries on Southwest Canyon Road. Negin Tajgerdu is Mahmoud's daughter, and the other three are his employees at the market and a 76 gas station he also owns.....
From TimesUnion:
Four grocery store employees face federal charges for collecting more than $300,000 in profits from a food stamp scheme.
Federal and county officials said the employees of the D&D's Grocery & Deli were indicted Monday on charges they allegedly purchased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) coupons from customers and resold or used them at a profit, according to a release from Federal Judge Randolph F. Treece and U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian.
Charged with fraud and conspiracy were Mofaddal M. Murshed, 36; Ahmed A. Algahaim, 54; Faisal Q. Morshed, 34; and Ibrahim Q. Murshed, 24. They were arraigned on the charges Monday. Their jail or bail status was not immediately available.
The owners of a now-defunct mom-and-pop grocery store in Palm Beach County ran a four-year scheme where they are accused of ripping off millions of dollars from the government by allowing food stamps recipients to withdraw cash using their benefits cards.
During the time the scheme was running at the small store, investigators say Hadi and Ali Jaber processed about as many food stamp transactions as an average Publix. They bilked an estimated $2.8 million from a program aimed at helping low-income families eat healthy. In return, the brothers, who owned Fajita's Meat and Fish in Palm Springs, charged food stamps card holders a premium of 30 to 50 percent, which the business pocketed.....
....Five people linked to a Beaverton market face charges after an investigation that began in 2009 found cases of food stamp fraud, police say.
Mahmoud Tajgerdu, 42, of Beaverton, the co-owner of Beaverton Halal Meat and Mediterranean Groceries at 11527 S.W. Canyon Road, charged people to exchange their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for cash, police said. Food stamps and Electronic Benefit Transfer cards can only legally be used to buy food.....
I have yet to see anything on this on CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC?
ReplyDeleteWhy is that? (:<))