For new readers, a side hobby of mine here at RRW has been to report on immigrant-run convenience stores ripping us off with food stamp fraud. I’m not talking about the petty stuff, it is the multi-million dollar trafficking fraud I’m talking about.
(For the most part this doesn’t involve refugees except that they use a lot of food stamp dollars and they are probably among those selling their benefits.)
I’m going to tell you about this latest sentencing right here in Maryland of Abdulmalik Abdulla and Ahmed Mohssen, in a minute. They ripped us off to the tune of $1.1 million and got only 4 years in prison (which we have to pay for too!).
Supposedly they will pay restitution, but where will they get that kind of money running a legitimate business? And, besides especially with the Middle Easterners, most of the money has long ago left the country! Why not just deport them!
But first, here is my pitch (I’ve done this on many previous occasions, but have a lot more readers now). WILL SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE A BLOG DEVOTED TO FRAUD SCHEMES PERPETRATED BY IMMIGRANTS. Every single day I see stories about food stamp fraud, medicare/medicaid fraud, housing fraud and other welfare fraud, so you would have lots of material to write from!
And, all day long I get e-mails from people who must spend many hours reading news on far-flung subjects, why not devote that same time to one or two things, become an investigative reporter, write a blog or other website and get something important accomplished! We have enough news junkies to go around and besides we can all read Drudge! What we don’t have are enough brave investigators!
And, truthfully, if someone doesn’t do it soon, I’m quitting RRW to start such a blog.
For our critics: If you are saying to yourself—Americans commit fraud too—then write your own blog on American scammers! After all, it is a free country (at least for now).
Sorry for my rant! But, here is the news from Baltimore directly from the US Attorney’s office. There was no sense directing you to a half a dozen stories that amounted to 3 paragraphs each in the mainstream media. Unfortunately though, just like the mainstream media, we don’t learn the immigration status of some of those convicted. When you see that ICE was involved, you know something was suspicious about their status in the US.
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Abdulmalik Abdulla, age 37, and Ahmed Mohssen, age 54, both of Baltimore, today each to four years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, for food stamp fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to illegally redeem food stamp benefits in exchange for cash. Judge Bennett also ordered Abdulla and Mohssen, who were convicted on August 8, 2014, after a four day trial, to forfeit and pay restitution of $1,185,583.09.
[….]
The evidence presented at the four day trial showed that the defendants, who operated Sam’s NY Grocery, a convenience store on North Milton Street in Baltimore, received over $1.1 million in federal payments for transactions in which they did not provide any food, but split the proceeds with food stamp recipients. According to testimony at trial, the defendants exchanged EBT benefits for cash, typically paying half the value of the EBT benefits in cash and keeping the rest for themselves. The testimony at trial also showed that the defendants accepted food stamp benefits to sell individual cigarettes removed from a pack at a substantial markup. As a result of the unlawful transactions, the defendants obtained more than $1.1 million in EBT deposits for transactions in which the store did not provide food.
Then check out the others recently convicted of food stamp fraud in Maryland. Do you see a pattern?
In separate cases, the 10 convenience store owners or operators indicted in September 2013 in connection with schemes to illegally redeem food stamp benefits in exchange for cash have pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and/or wire fraud. Abdullah Aljaradi, age 52, and Ahmed Ayedh Al-Jabrati, age 56, both citizens of Yemen residing in Baltimore, were each sentenced to two years in prison, and ordered to pay restitution of $1.2 million. Jung Kim, age 52, of Ellicott City, Maryland, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $95,453.50 and pay restitution of $205,000. Amara Cisse, age 51, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $654,349.24, and his wife, Fanta Keita was sentenced to two months in prison. John Cunningham, age 55, of Baltimore, was sentenced to two years in prison. Retailer Hyung Cho, age 40, was sentenced to 38 months in prison, and his mother Dae Cho, age 67, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The Chos were also ordered to forfeit $371,439.21 and pay restitution of $1.4 million. Abdo Mohamed Nagi, age 54, a citizen of Yemen residing in Baltimore, and Kim Man Chu, age 39, of Rosedale, Maryland, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 46 months and 18 months in prison, respectively. Nagi was ordered to forfeit $1.2 million and Chu was ordered to forfeit $834,996 and six firearms along with ammunition.
Wow, looks like one American-sounding name in the whole bunch. And, a bunch of citizens of Yemen in the group—how did they even get federal approval to run a business that involved food stamps? Who helps them buy the stores? What sort of investor visa or other program could some of them be using to get in here? Do they teach Scamming the Infidels 101 in the Middle East? Does anyone in our government follow their money trail abroad?
See all of our posts on food stamp fraud (we haven’t written much in recent months), but I bet we are going on a hundred posts over the years. Some are real doozies!