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The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that a nationwide enforcement operation targeted alleged or proven fraud schemes responsible for nearly $45 million in intended losses to the federal government, including nearly $42 million involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the USDA Office of Inspector General announced the results of the first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge, which began September 1 and involved 13 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The operation resulted in enforcement actions against more than 40 defendants.
According to an infographic released alongside the announcement, the nearly $42 million in SNAP fraud could have provided food assistance to approximately 220,000 Americans for the month of October, based on fiscal year 2026 USDA data on average monthly benefits per person.
“These schemes siphoned millions from taxpayers and robbed struggling Americans of the benefits they depend on so fraudsters could use them for their own selfish purposes,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “Through our partnership with the Department of Agriculture, this nationwide surge exposed and disrupted criminal networks that targeted vulnerable American families.”
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division also emphasized the impact on SNAP recipients.
“The human cost of these fraud schemes is measured not in spreadsheets, but in the panic of a mother whose card is declined and the hunger her children endure because someone hijacked their benefits,” McDonald said.
The Justice Department highlighted the experience of one mother whose EBT card was compromised and whose benefits were stolen. She discovered the theft after her card was declined at a grocery store and was forced to take out loans to feed her children, reporting significant anxiety and depression as a result.
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Among the largest cases highlighted was an alleged $29.7 million SNAP fraud scheme involving Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan, who operated approved retail food stores in Chicago, Illinois.
Federal prosecutors allege the two men and others processed thousands of fraudulent electronic benefit transfer (EBT) transactions between approximately February 2024 and April 2025 using stolen account information. The transactions allegedly appeared to involve legitimate food purchases but instead transferred millions in federal funds to accounts controlled by the defendants and others. Some proceeds were allegedly used to purchase automobiles for shipment overseas.
Yaseen and Kanaan were indicted in the Southern District of Ohio on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Another major case involved rapper and social media influencer Mercedes New, also known as Shawty Dred, who was indicted in Georgia on October 7 on charges involving food stamp fraud, mail fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
According to the Justice Department, investigators determined that phone numbers associated with New accessed more than 350 SNAP accounts through over 9,000 calls to the benefit system. Authorities ultimately linked more than 500 Georgia EBT cards to New, identifying an estimated $4.4 million in stolen benefits. New was arrested in Las Vegas on October 13.
The operation also included the sentencing of Ana Patricia Escalante, who led a transport crew involved in reselling infant formula purchased with stolen SNAP benefits.
Escalante, one of 17 defendants indicted in Oregon in connection with the conspiracy, was sentenced September 9 to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution. Members of the conspiracy, most of whom were Romanian nationals unlawfully present in the United States, used stolen benefits to purchase infant formula and other food products, which were then collected and transported for resale.
In Michigan, Kirk Deshaun Woodley and Chantel LaShawn Peavy conspired with others to submit hundreds of fraudulent SNAP applications using the identities of more than 650 victims, resulting in approximately $1.1 million in intended losses. Woodley pleaded guilty September 22, while Peavy was sentenced October 20 to 18 months in prison.
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Another Michigan defendant, convenience store operator Mohinder Singh, was indicted in an alleged $1.09 million scheme involving the exchange of cash and ineligible items for SNAP benefits. Prosecutors allege that Singh typically provided 50 cents in cash for each dollar in benefits transferred.
In Ohio, six individuals were charged in an alleged conspiracy involving more than $1 million in SNAP benefits exchanged for cash, marijuana, and other ineligible products at a gas station convenience store in Euclid.
The Justice Department also highlighted a Florida crop-insurance fraud case involving Mark Frisbie, who pleaded guilty September 29 to submitting false claims that underreported his agricultural production. The case involved approximately $3.2 million in actual losses, and Frisbie agreed to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution.
Other cases included a Dominican national, Rodolfo Armando Fernandez Guzman, accused of using a stolen identity to obtain SNAP, MassHealth, and Section 8 housing benefits, and four defendants in Pennsylvania charged in a case involving the alleged exploitation of women with intellectual disabilities to control their Social Security and SNAP benefits.
In Utah, authorities also investigated Sahara Market co-owner Besmulla Yaqoobi in an alleged SNAP trafficking scheme involving approximately $5,995 in intended losses.
The announcement comes one day after President Donald Trump unveiled a Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program offering individuals, including journalists, a one percent commission on funds recovered through fraud reports. As Breitbart News reported Tuesday, Trump announced the initiative alongside Vice President JD Vance and independent journalist Nick Shirley, who brought attention to alleged fraud at a Minnesota learning center. Trump encouraged Americans to report suspected fraud through fraud.gov, a website created by Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia. Vance said Trump proposed the incentive to “actually reward people” for helping “save the American taxpayer a lot of money,” while Shirley welcomed the initiative, saying that “now finally people have an incentive to actually go out and expose fraud.”
The enforcement operation also follows Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ September remarks on The Alex Marlow Show, during which she detailed USDA’s efforts to combat SNAP fraud. “We have now, Alex, moved almost 6 million people off of SNAP in just a year and a half,” Rollins said. She also said USDA identified “250,000 people that are using dead people’s social security numbers in one state alone,” along with “hundreds of fancy cars” associated with SNAP recipients. Rollins criticized oversight under former President Joe Biden, saying SNAP spending increased 40 percent during his administration, and said Republican-led states and some Democrat governors cooperated with USDA’s anti-fraud efforts. She also said USDA reassigned personnel previously involved in workforce reductions to investigate fraud. “You know, the American taxpayer just is owed better, as are the families that really need this program that is being stolen,” Rollins said.
