Tag: food stamp fraud

Your tax dollars flowed to terrorists around the world via food stamp fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is what a new report says.

Longtime readers know that a pet project of mine for several years was following the food stamp fraud busts going on around the country.  See my complete file on the subject here.

I’m relieved to see that some organization of stature has taken the issue of food stamp “trafficking” seriously.

From Breitbart (Hat tip: Richard @highblueridge):

Report: Millions in Food Stamp Dollars Flowed to Terrorists

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See the whole report:    http://g-a-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018_GAI_SNAP_FRAUD_TERROR.pdf

 

Millions of taxpayers dollars trafficked through food stamp fraud went to terrorists who funded their activities at home and abroad, according to an explosive report from the Government Accountability Institute (GAI).

The report from GAI, where Breitbart News Senior-Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer serves as president, highlighted several instances where money obtained through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits fraud went to fund acts of terrorism, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.

“Hawalas” used to launder money

The U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified that many terrorists would get away with funding their illicit activities by using businesses known as “hawalas” to launder money.

A “hawala”— which is an Arabic term defined in English as transfer (or trust)— is a method of transferring money through informal agents from international networks, and many Muslim immigrants settled in western countries use the “hawala” method to transfer funds to family members.

GAI, citing a U.S. Treasury report, found that more than $7 billion flows into Pakistan alone through hawalas every year.

[….]

Investigators say it is very difficult to track the money moved around through hawalas, even though the federal government has known about the use of hawalas and their alleged role in financing terrorism for years.

But as federal investigators became more familiar with the welfare fraud mechanisms used to fund terrorist activities after the September 11 attacks, investigators have cracked down on a number of instances where terrorists have used the benefit fraud for such purposes.

Much more here.

By the way, even if your tax dollars don’t make it into the hands of terrorists, the billions of US dollars sent out of the country via remittances to ‘home’ countries have a huge impact on the US as it is money that is not available to our economy.

Nearly 36,000 'grocery' stores engaged in food stamp trafficking over a recent three year period (Obama)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So, why am I writing about this?  If you are a relatively new reader, you probably don’t know that I followed food stamp fraud stories for many years as a sideline to my refugee research work.  (We had a bust in my county just as the refugee arrivals began in earnest.)
I first became interested in it when I noticed that the majority of busts I was reading about, mostly at small grocery stores and convenience stores, were of immigrant owners and managers.
 

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One recent bust in Maine: http://fox23maine.com/news/local/portland-shop-owner-pleads-guilty-to-welfare-fraud

 
If you click here you can see many years worth of stories on food stamp fraud here at RRW. Many are million dollar frauds involving trafficking perpetrated by frankly many Middle Eastern/Asian immigrants some of whom sent the money they ripped off out of the country.
Here is a story about a recent report from the Dept. of Agriculture on the extent of the fraud.  Let’s hope Big Don will take care of these crooks!
Remember readers, trafficking involves big bucks, your money! It is not about people buying junk food on food stamps.
From CNS News:

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has published a report estimating that 35,891 food retailers around the country engaged in food stamp fraud, illegally “trafficking” more than $1 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits annually over the three-year period from 2012 through 2014.

 

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Most of the fraud is in small groceries and convenience stores!

 
CNS News continues….

“Retailer trafficking of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits occurs primarily when SNAP recipients sell their benefits for cash to food retailers, often at a discount,” the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service said in a summary of the report.

“SNAP benefits are permitted for the purchase of eligible food items from authorized food retailers,” said the report. “The sale or exchange of SNAP benefits for anything other than food sold by an authorized SNAP retailer is illegal.”

[….]

“An estimated $1.077 billion in SNAP benefits annually were trafficked and thereby diverted from their intended purpose,” said the report.

“Overall, about 1.5 percent of total SNAP benefits were trafficked; and approximately 11.8 percent of all authorized SNAP stores engaged in trafficking,” it said.

[….]

“Trafficking is defined as buying or selling benefits for cash or consideration other than eligible food, and the penalty is permanent disqualification,” said the report. “Permanent disqualification occurs when a retailer’s authorization to redeem SNAP benefits is revoked.”

States where ‘diversity is beautiful’ have the highest number of illegal operations.

A breakdown by states showed that the largest number of retailers permanently disqualified from SNAP in fiscal 2016 were in New York (448), the second largest number was in Florida (175), the third largest was in California (133) and the fourth largest was in New Jersey (130).

Go get’em Donald!
Again, see my food stamp fraud archive by clicking here.  There are some doozy stories there!

Massive food stamp fraud bust, Florida this time…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you are a longtime reader, you know that following food stamp fraud cases is a side interest of mine. Go here to my large archive on past cases.  I haven’t written much lately on the topic because reporting on the refugee program is about all I can handle.

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There is so much that could be done to stop the fraud including disallowing these ‘mom and pop’ convenience stores from accepting EBT cards.

 

I continue to urge one of you to write a blog solely on the topic of immigrant fraud such as food stamp fraud and other welfare fraud—a topic that could keep you busy every day and do our country a great service.

And, besides, your blog could be hopping (and fun to write!) because I suspect we will see more crackdowns now that the Justice Department is run by Jeff Sessions.

The type of fraud mentioned here in the Breitbart story (called trafficking) works like this: Customer with SNAP benefits comes in to store wanting cash (for drugs?). Manager or owner pays customer 50 cents on the dollar in cash and then seeks reimbursement from the government (you!) for the full $1 dollar supposedly spent on food.

Here is Breitbart:

Twelve Floridians have been charged with running an alleged $20 million food stamp fraud scheme in one of the “largest” food stamp fraud crackdowns in history, according to the Justice Department.

Federal prosecutors told the Miami Herald that the 12 defendants who reportedly defrauded the federal government of $20 million were charged with food stamp fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The list of those charged include Mohammed Alobaisi, 37; Mohammad Alteen, 33; Joe Ann Baker, 56; Reynold Francois, 38; Omar Hajje, 43; Jalal Hajyousef, 42; Andy Javier Herrera, 24, and his father, Javier Herrera, 49; Ihab Hassouna, 44; Maria Jerdana, 36; Hasan Saleh, 59; and Yousef “Joe” Homedan Zahran, 60.

“In this instance, eight small convenience stores in South Florida committed a staggering amount of fraud in a relatively short amount of time,” said Karen Citizen-Wilcox, special agent in charge, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Office of the Inspector General, in a press release.

[….]

Store owners and employees who commit food stamp fraud face steep consequences.

Continue here.

No, I would not call a few months in jail “steep consequences.”  And, how does someone pay restitution when they have sent your tax dollars out of the country (which is often the case)?

Buffalo,NY: Another food stamp fraud bust (flipping the bird to America!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ahmed AlshamiI guess I’m going to have to go back and report on food stamp trafficking from time to time (until I can convince some real reporters that this is a huge story across America!).
Stories like the one I posted from Baltimore just a few days ago are all over the place.  And, btw, that one posted on August 30th (click here) became the top post for all of August here at RRW.
So if you liked that one, you will really like this one.
Muslim store owner arrested for ripping you (infidels) off to the tune of $2 million and then his wife and daughter flip you the bird—literally!

Wife to camera:  “F&*& you. F&*& America.”

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Screenshot because I assume that when the video goes viral it will be removed. Note how hands are blurred!

From WKBW Buffalo (hat tip: Paula):

BUFFALO, N.Y.(WKBW) – The owner of a Buffalo deli is being held on $2 million bail for welfare fraud charges.

Ahmed Alshami, 37, is charged with criminal possession of public benefit cards, misuse of food stamps and criminal use of a public benefit card for defrauding the welfare system.

Alshami is the owner and operator of IGA Express Mart, a corner deli at 271 Ludington in the City of Buffalo.

According to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, between October 9, 2014 and March 21, 2016 Alshami is accused of buying EBT (food stamp) cards from people willing to trade them for cash. He usually paid people half of what the cards are worth.

[….]

Alshami pleaded not guilty to the misuse of food stamps and burglary charges.

Outside of court on Tuesday, his daughter flipped off our cameras while his wife said, “Are you happy now? F&*& you. F&*& America.”

Now here is the video of the report:

 

The Welcoming America leftwingers love to tell warm and fuzzy stories about immigrants, but you know we have stories too!

And for our extensive (story) archive on the refugee ‘welcoming’ city of Buffalo, click here. For many years worth of food stamp fraud bust stories go here.
I don’t know if the alleged crook here is a refugee, but since most refugees get food stamp benefits he probably had a lot of ‘customers’ for his business.

HUGE! Food stamp fraud bust in Baltimore, check out the names, see a pattern?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: Be sure to see the even juicier story from Buffalo. Muslim convenience store owner charged with ripping us off to the tune of $2 million and his wife and daughter flip the bird to news camera (to America)!  You can’t make this up!  Click here.
I haven’t written about food stamp fraud in awhile, but darn it I wish someone would!
If you don’t know how trafficking in EBT benefits works, I’m going to send you to dozens and dozens of posts I’ve written on the subject over the years, click here.
Thanks to my friend Diana for bringing this gigantic one to my attention.

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Mayor Rawlings-Blake with her pals at Islamic Relief USA. She has been a leading proponent of bringing more Muslim refugees to Baltimore.

From CBS Baltimore: 14 arrests and $16 MILLION fraudulently obtained by trafficking in food stamps.  Are these stores part of Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s highly touted immigrant entrepreneur project?
Here are the names of  those arrested (see a pattern?):

Walayat Khan, 36, of Reisterstown
Barbara Ann Duke, 50, of Owings Mills
Shaheen Tasewar Hussain, 60, of Ellicott City

Kelym Novas Perez, 34, of Baltimore
Jose Remedio Gonzalez Reyes, 50, of Baltimore
Mulazam Hussain, 54, of Windsor Mill
Mahmood Hussain Shah, 57, of Catonsville
Muhammad Rafiq, 58, of Reisterstown

Mohammad Shafiq, 50, of Gwynn Oak, Maryland; and his daughter,
Alia Shaheen, 24, of Baltimore

Mohammad Irfan, 59, of Nottingham
Muhammad Sarmad, 40, of Nottingham
Rizwan Pervez, 38, of Essex
Kassem Mohammad Hafeed, a/k/a Kassam Mohammad Hafeed, 51, of Baltimore

I swear this is connected to the Investor visa program and it makes me wonder if they have training programs abroad in how to buy convenience stores in the US and rip off the dumb (infidel) Americans!
How much do you want to bet some of your $16 million left the country!