Four Venezuelan migrants in Massachusetts have been charged in a one million-dollar, multi-state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud, federal prosecutors revealed on Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley revealed that the food stamp fraud scheme raged across half a dozen states and Puerto Rico and defrauded the SNAP program through the use of stolen identities.
“The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly used the fraudulent SNAP benefits cards to purchase large quantities of expensive bulk food items (such as multiple-pound packages of chicken, beef, and pork) at various local wholesalers and food markets to stock El Primo Restaurant at no expense,” Foley said in her press release.
“With their supplies obtained for free through fraudulent SNAP benefits, they prepared and then sold menu items at El Primo Restaurant at a complete profit, later wiring the fraud proceeds, among other places, to individuals living in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic,” Foley added.
The fraud connected to the restaurant scheme amounted to $440,000, but prosecutors also allege that the suspects filed fraudulent applications for benefits in the names of up to 100 stolen identities amounting to as much as $700,000 in fraudulently received benefits.
“It is no secret there is rampant fraud across this nation,” Foley said at a news conference in Boston, according to CBS News. “The charges announced today are just a snapshot of the bigger picture, not just in Massachusetts but across the country.”
Foley added that her office is investigating more cases of fraud and people should “anticipate seeing more and more of these cases coming here in Massachusetts.”
Foley also blasted states that have loose benefits programs and application processes.
“Any state that allows online applications without any ability to verify that the documents that are being submitted are authentic is leaving itself open to abuse and to be defrauded,” Foley said.
The fraud uncovered in Massachusetts is but one of many cases coming to light all across the U.S.
Last month it was reported that the State of Maine paid out $45.6 million in improper payments for autism services.
A federal audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General uncovered “unallowable services and questionable billing patterns” in Maine’s Medicaid services provided to children with autism, the feds said in a press release.
News about the massive Somali fraud continues to emerge from Minnesota as well. HHS Deputy Sec. Jim O’Neill says that the hundreds of millions stolen from U.S. taxpayers is probably lost and will never be recovered.
“The minute we send it to Minnesota, Minnesota sends it to these largely fake grantees. It’s probably overseas within a few days. That’s going to be impossible to get back,” O’Neill said.
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