Two Fraudsters Trafficked $7 Million in SNAP Funds

Two men have just been charged in a scheme that wasted a stunning $7 million in taxpayer money through food stamp fraud. Who knows how many other criminals like them there are in America?

Antonio Bonheur, who owned Jesula Variety Store, and Saul Alisme, who owned Saul Mache Mixe Store, are the defendants. The small variety stores in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood were actually conduits for massive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) fraud, according to a Dec. 17 press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Following a pattern usually only large supermarkets generate, a mere 10% of SNAP transactions at the stores were for amounts under $40. Over 70% of transactions were more than $95. The size, inventory, and food offerings of the stores did not seem to justify the SNAP expenditures, raising a red flag about the fraud.

The new allegations come as the food stamp program causes controversy over hundreds of thousands of double-dippers and dead people identified by the Trump administration receiving the benefits.

The DOJ detailed the Boston fraud further:

It is alleged that the defendants’ monthly SNAP redemptions for Jesula Variety Store regularly exceeded $100,000 – with many months exceeding $300,000 and, at times, $500,000. By comparison, one full-service supermarket in the same area redeems approximately $82,000 per month in SNAP benefits…
During undercover operations conducted at both businesses over the course of the investigation, SNAP benefits were allegedly trafficked for cash on four occasions from Jesula Variety Store and on two occasions from Saul Mache Mixe Store. In each instance, the defendants themselves allegedly worked the cash registers and personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.

There was “little legitimate food inventory” and “minimal lawful revenue” at the stores, the DOJ emphasized. Almost all the revenue came from SNAP redemptions. The defendants had a series of secondary bank accounts, which they used to cash in the SNAP benefits, and after withdrawing the cash, re-deposited it as if it were legitimate business revenue proceeds.

It is further alleged that both stores sold MannaPack meals, a donated food product manufactured by the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children. These meals are paid for entirely by charitable donations intended for shipment and distribution to food-insecure children overseas and are never authorized for retail sale.

But the defendants allegedly sold the MannaPack meals for $8 a package.

Bonheur and Alisme could be facing up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for their fraud. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence if they are convicted.

SNAP is set up to allow purchases of totally unnecessary food items (top SNAP purchases include soft drinks, candy, and bag snacks), and 40% of food stamp recipients are obese. The whole system is unfortunately set up to favor dishonesty and misuse of taxpayer funds. That is why the program needs such a massive overhaul.

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