Follow-Up: DOJ and USDA Unveil Nationwide SNAP Fraud Enforcement Surge: 40-Plus Defendants, Nearly $45M in Intended Losses
Washington — The Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the USDA Office of Inspector General on October 21 announced the results of the Department's first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge, conducted since September 1 with 13 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Utah Attorney General's Office. The coordinated effort brought actions against more than 40 defendants whose alleged or proven schemes caused nearly $45 million in intended losses to the federal government, nearly $42 million of it involving fraud against the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). One additional case involved attempted fraud against a USDA crop-insurance program.
"These schemes siphoned millions from taxpayers and robbed struggling Americans of the benefits they depend on," said Attorney General Todd Blanche. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims — families in dire need and taxpayers — adding, "We will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division said the human cost of these 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." The Department cited a mother of four whose electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card was compromised and who discovered the theft only when her card was declined at a grocery store, forcing her to take out loans to feed her children. USDA Inspector General John Walk said the surge "is only the beginning." Homeland Security Investigations Acting Executive Associate Director John A. Condon said HSI is working with law-enforcement and prosecutorial partners to dismantle networks using skimming devices, stolen identities and fraudulent retailers.
The largest case listed was in Chicago: a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio indicted Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan, alleging they operated SNAP-authorized retail food stores in Chicago and, between February 2024 and April 2025, processed thousands of transactions using stolen Ohio and other states' EBT account information, causing an estimated intended loss of about $29.7 million, with some proceeds used to buy automobiles for shipment overseas. Both are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Other highlighted cases include rapper and influencer Mercedes New, known as Shawty Dred, indicted in the Northern District of Georgia over more than 500 Georgia EBT cards and an estimated $4.4 million in stolen benefits, arrested in Las Vegas on October 13; the Oregon Dumitru case, in which Ana Patricia Escalante, leader of a crew that bought infant formula with stolen benefits for resale, was sentenced on September 9 to 27 months in federal prison and $2.4 million in restitution, with 12 of 17 defendants sentenced to date; and an Eastern District of Michigan case in which Kirk Deshaun Woodley and Chantel LaShawn Peavy used the identities of more than 650 victims to obtain SNAP benefits, with Peavy sentenced on October 20 to 18 months in prison.
The announcement was the second federal SNAP anti-fraud rollout on October 21: the Department of Homeland Security the same day announced a major operation targeting SNAP fraud by people in the country illegally, and Vice President JD Vance's fraud task force appeared in Cincinnati. The Justice Department noted that an indictment is merely an allegation and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国农业部总部 Jamie L. Whitten 联邦大楼，摄于华盛顿。照片：美国农业部 Lance Cheung 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Jamie L. Whitten Building, headquarters of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Washington. Photo by Lance Cheung, U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-10-21Follow-Up: DOJ and USDA Unveil Nationwide SNAP Fraud Enforcement Surge: 40-Plus Defendants, Nearly $45M in Intended LossesThis story
