Cleveland: (Another) doozy of a food stamp fraud bust

08/16/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one more in my long list of immigrant-run convenience store food stamp fraud stories. For new readers, following these scams is a side interest of mine and since no one (that I know of) is writing a blog dedicated to stories about immigrants scamming the US taxpayer (there are many more such frauds and ‘medicare/medicaid’ fraud is on the rise), I’ll keep posting some here.

EBT Nation! Our standard graphic when we can’t find a photo of the perps. If anyone sees a mugshot of Mohammad D. Mohammad send it my way! Thanks!

I don’t even post all of the cases that arrive in my alerts. I try to focus on stories that have an extra-added angle beyond the usual EBT card trafficking. This one has a high “Mohammad coefficient” in addition to the allegedly brazen scam these guys were running.

There are many reports of this indictment, but some don’t tell the larger story. This Patch report does.

First be sure to re-visit my post of a couple of weeks ago about how David Lubell and ‘Welcoming America’ has just kicked-off its Cleveland campaign to convince residents that diversity is beautiful and they need to embrace more of it! Entrepreneurial immigrants will save the city from economic ruin, they say.

Here is the Patch story on the $780,000 rip-off of the taxpayer (as is the usual case, no mention of the immigration status or how these perps got into the US in the first place):

Three men — including a store owner from Strongsville (a Cleveland suburb)— were indicted Wednesday for an alleged decade-long conspiracy to defraud the food stamp and Women, Infants and Children programs out of more than $780,000 by trading the vouchers for cash and restricted items like beer and cigarettes, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

Ahmad (“Tony”) Damra, 31, of Macedonia, his brother, Mahmoud (“Moe”) Damrah, 26, of Cleveland, and Mohammad D. Mohammad, 41, of Strongsville, were each indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, three counts of food stamp fraud and unlawful redemption of food stamps, and one count of WIC fraud.

The incidents allegedly took place at Mohammad’s store in Cleveland.

Used Mamma to get food stamp license! Prior conviction for “aggravated arson” went unnoticed by officials until now? (Left out of the story in many of the reports).

The indictment charges that between 2002 and 2011, the three men and others defrauded the WIC and food stamp program out of more than $780,000 at the East 143rd Food Market, l3249 East 143rd Street in Cleveland, which is owned, operated and managed by Mohammad.

Mohammad obtained a food stamp license in 1997, which, except for a two-year period beginning in September 1998, remained in effect through 2004, according to the indictment.

In 2005, he obtained a food stamp license for the market using the business Rashiqa, Inc., which listed Mohammad’s mother as president. He used his mother’s name because he had a prior conviction for aggravated arson, which precluded him from getting the license himself, the document said.

Also in 2005, Mohammad obtained a WIC program authorization under Rashiqa, Inc.

[….]

The investigation revealed that the defendants used their business to exchange customer food stamps and WIC coupons for cash and other unauthorized items, including beer and cigarettes.

The men also purchased customer food stamp cards and used them at other grocery locations to purchase inventory for the market and for their own personal use, the indictment says.

Here is another version of this latest bust in Cleveland, at the Plain Dealer, where the reporter summarized the case, just two weeks ago of the bust involving brothers Saed “Sam” Wahdan, 41, and Maher “Mario” Wahdan, 42, and Nidal Jaber, 45, but doesn’t mention that they scammed you of $2 million!

Readers, I’ve been following these busts for over five years and have never seen any mainstream news outlet attempt to get to the root of how all of these immigrant ‘entrepreneurs’ got into the country, bought stores and knew how to set up these scams. Too politically incorrect I assume to make any connections?

If there are any real investigative reporters out there—click here for dozens and dozens of similar stories (I’ve done much of your research already!).

Connecticut: Another convenience store food stamp fraud bust, new angle

08/04/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

The scam being run by Saaid Cherkaoui at his Bridgeport, CT convenience store demonstrates a new twist in the standard immigrant-run fraud scheme.

Cherkaoui (as usual no nationality or immigration status is given, but some with that last name are Moroccan) acquired a large number of of EBT cards, used them at a wholesale store to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise he then resold in his Mom & Pop grocery.

What I don’t get about the story is why the State of Connecticut is fining him and not also turning him into the feds for criminal prosecution.

From NBC Connecticut:

The state of Connecticut is suing a Bridgeport grocery and convenience store owner accused of using hundreds of food stamp accounts to buy hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of energy drinks, candy bars, beef jerky and other products that he sold at his store.

Saaid Cherkaoui, who runs Slim’s Deli Market, is accused of obtaining EBT cards from authorized recipients and using them at BJ’s Wholesale Club, where he bought products at a discount.

State officials said the scheme began as early as March 1, 2011 and continued until Oct. 6, 2012 He’d swipe card after card at the self-checkout to pay for the products, then resell the items at his store, according to the complaint the state filed against Cherkaoui.

Regular readers know that Food Stamp Fraud at immigrant-run convenience stores is a side interest of mine. Dozens and dozens of posts similar to this one may be found by clicking here.

Big immigrant-run food stamp fraud bust in Cleveland area

07/31/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to Cleveland! While ‘Welcoming America’ is busy trying to persuade Cleveland that diversity is beautiful and that they need more of it, some of their diversity has figured out how to scam the US taxpayer out of $2 million!

First have a look at the news from La Prensa about how bringing more diversity to Cleveland will improve the economy:

Embracing a more proactive immigrant friendly vision for Cleveland, Global Cleveland partnered with MetroHealth Medical Center and Welcoming America to lay groundwork to transform the city. Nearly 250 guests attended the movie and post discussion at MetroHealth Medical Center on July 16, 2013.

And here we have David Lubell again out hocking that Shelbyville propaganda film! Lubell’s organization was recently hired by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to sell reluctant cities on the idea of “welcoming” refugees. La Prensa continues:

‘Welcoming America’ trying to sell Cleveland on increasing immigrant diversity to save itself from the same fate as Detroit!

“We often dismiss people with fear,” said David Lubell, executive director of Welcoming America, which is a critical mistake in the effort to transform the mindset of a community. Welcoming America is a national nonprofit organization working to improve immigrant integration by direct engagement through individual and group efforts to create local initiatives that facilitate cultural understanding and ease transitions.

Lubell said all communities are different; some have less distance to do and working with Global Cleveland and other partners Welcoming America will determine where the city stands to best address its needs. Lubell said there is intense competition brewing amongst cities to become the most immigrant friendly city in the United States and attract global talent.

Global talent! That is a good way to describe the major (many are Muslim or Middle Eastern) network of bright convenience store food stamp scammers! Cleveland is about to lose three of its most talented Arabs.

EBT Nation! LOL! We use this graphic when I can’t find a photo of the perps!

From ABC 5 in Cleveland:

BROOK PARK, Ohio – Three Brook Park men have been indicted for defrauding the food stamp program out of $2 million at four Cleveland stores.

The United States Attorney’s Office of Northern Ohio said brothers Saed and Maher Wahdan, along with the help of Nidal Jaber, accepted food stamps for ineligible items like beer and cigarettes.

All three men have been indicted on counts of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, food stamp fraud and unlawful redemption of food stamps.

U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio Steven Dettelbach said that attempts will be made to recover stolen money.

“The food stamp program has provided nutritious food to thousands of hungry families over the years,” he said. “We will continue to work to recover money stolen from the program and eradicate waste, fraud and abuse of government programs.”

Between January 2008 and March 2012, the three men attempted to commit more than $2 million in food-stamp fraud through four of their businesses that were held under different names to conceal Saed Wahdan’s prior food stamp convictions, authorities said. Those stores were One Stop Beverage, 5105 Franklin Blvd.; Bridge Deli and Beverage, 4700 Bridge Ave.; Franklin Beverage and Deli, 4719 Franklin Blvd., and Scott Food Mart, 951 Linn Drive.

The three men used their businesses to exchange customer food stamps for cash and other unauthorized items. They also bought food stamp cards from customers to use at other grocery locations to get inventory for their stores and for their personal use, according to the indictment.

The indictment seeks to forfeit the businesses run by the Wahdans.

Food stamp fraud is a side interest of mine at RRW. We have an extensive archive on cases like this one (click here).

As each year passes and our archive grows I still hold out hope that some real investigative reporter will dig into this story—how do all these immigrants acquire these Mom & Pop grocery stores and then go into the food stamp fraud racket? And, every time I hear the likes of Lubell say immigrants are entrepreneurs and open shops, I can’t help but think of these food stamp scammers.

Food stamp fraud bust story with a couple of important pieces of information

07/27/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Lately I’ve passed up a bunch of food stamp fraud stories because they were mostly the same-old story. There was one I should have posted though and didn’t where the immigrant fraudster not only trafficked in food stamps in his convenience store, but also ran an illegal gambling parlor in the back room.

Innocuous-looking Cheese store busted in Schenectady, NY

These food stamp fraudsters in Schenectady, Vishnunarine Singh and Elvin Singh, were charged in your basic scam involving exchanging food stamps for cash at 50 cents on the dollar. However, here is the big difference with this story—to send a message, the prosecutor is going after the sellers of their stamps (the customers who got the cash)! So, resettlement contractors need to alert their refugee clients that selling food stamp privileges is illegal!

70% if refugees (95% of Iraqis!) in the US are on food stamps as of the latest complete report we have from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

From the Daily Gazette:

SCHENECTADY — The investigation into the city business that authorities say regularly defrauded the food stamp system continued Thursday, with the prosecutor saying the total number of recipients who illegally exchanged their benefits for cash could reach into the hundreds.

Nearly two dozen have already been arrested for the alleged actions at Cheese Bakery and Grocery, 1007 State St., including the store owner and his son. More arrests are possible, officials have said. Those not charged criminally could face loss of their benefit privileges.

Prosecutor Katie McCutcheon provided more information on the investigation Thursday, after store owner Vishnunarine Singh, 57, of Ozone Park, and his son Elvin, 27, of Schenectady, were arraigned on multiple felony counts. Both pleaded not guilty.

The two are accused of essentially trading food stamp benefits for cash, with little or no actual food included in the transactions. The recipient would then get typically about 50 percent of the face value of the benefits and the store would keep the other half, officials said.

Such scams have been perpetrated before by store owners.

Three store owners and one store operator were arrested in 2011 in Albany, accused of running the same type of scam. Together, they were believed to be responsible for more than $6.1 million in suspicious food stamp activity.

In the Schenectady case, the arrests of the store owner and son on food stamp fraud charges were accompanied by the arrests of 21 others, accused of using their own food stamp privileges at the store illegally.

“We do want to send a message to the community, store vendors as well as recipients, that this type of fraudulent activity is not going to be tolerated in this community,” McCutcheon said.

Then reporters Steven Cook and Kathleen Moore did a bit of extra research and reported this (below). So where is the mainstream media? Where is the Washington Post, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal on the story of an epidemic in convenience store food stamp trafficking? Based on my 5-plus years of following the scams as a side interest here at RRW, I will bet a bundle that the largest majority of busted stores are owned and operated by immigrants. Is no one curious how they were able to finance and set-up these scams in the first place?

Nationwide in fiscal year 2012, nearly 1,400 stores were permanently disqualified for trafficking and nearly 700 stores were sanctioned for other violations, according to the USDA. Those efforts were the result of reviews of more than 1,500 stores and nearly 4,500 undercover investigations.

For our complete archive on Food Stamp Fraud cases, click here.

Immigrants use food stamps to purchase, send food out of the country

07/22/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: Brenda Walker at VDARE has some good stats you should see, here.

The New York Post has a new twist on one of our favorite subjects—-food stamp fraud. Hat tip: Anne

Seems that Jamaicans, Haitians and immigrants from the Dominican Republic living in New York are buying non-perishable food to send ‘home’ to relatives.

EBT Nation! If they are shipping food out of NY, surely they are pulling the same scam in your state!

Here is the story about our latest US ‘foreign aid.’

Food stamps are paying for trans-Atlantic takeout — with New Yorkers using taxpayer-funded benefits to ship food to relatives in Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Welfare recipients are buying groceries with their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and packing them in giant barrels for the trip overseas, The Post found.

The practice is so common that hundreds of 45- to 55-gallon cardboard and plastic barrels line the walls of supermarkets in almost every Caribbean corner of the city.

The feds say the moveable feasts go against the intent of the $86 billion welfare program for impoverished Americans.

[….]

The United States spent $522.7 million on foreign aid to the Caribbean last fiscal year, government data show.

That reminds me, Haitians are still getting ‘temporary protected (refugee) status’ from that earthquake back in 2010, but as we learned in January there weren’t many takers because anyone getting into the US illegally in recent months is anticipating a free ride when (if!) the so-called “comprehensive reform” becomes law.

For our extensive immigrant-perpetrated food stamp fraud archive, click here.