WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Wednesday that a nationwide enforcement surge has uncovered nearly $42 million in fraud against the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, with actions brought against more than 40 defendants.
The department said its National Fraud Enforcement Division, the Department of Agriculture and the USDA Office of Inspector General ran the effort between Sept. 1 and Wednesday, working with 13 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The Justice Department called it the first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge. Schemes in the cases caused nearly $45 million in intended losses in all, the department said, and one 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 so fraudsters could use them for their own selfish purposes,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Through our partnership with the Department of Agriculture, this nationwide surge exposed and disrupted criminal networks that targeted vulnerable American families. The Department of Justice will continue working to root out fraud in every federal agency and program.”
SNAP provides monthly food assistance to low-income individuals and families. The department gave one victim’s account in its announcement: a mother whose electronic benefit transfer card was compromised learned her benefits had been stolen when her card was declined at a grocery store, and she took out loans to feed her children.
“Every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in dire need and taxpayers. Today, we are reminding fraudsters that we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.”
The largest case in the surge is in the Southern District of Ohio. A federal grand jury indicted Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan over an alleged scheme run through approved retail food stores they operated in Chicago, according to the indictment described by the department. Prosecutors allege the two processed thousands of transactions using stolen Ohio and other state EBT account information between about February 2024 and April 2025, that the transactions falsely appeared to be legitimate food purchases when no bona fide sales occurred, and that the loss reached about $29.7 million. Some proceeds went to buy automobiles for use and shipment overseas, prosecutors allege. Yaseen and Kanaan are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In Georgia, a federal grand jury indicted Mercedes New, a rapper and social media influencer known as Shawty Dred, on Oct. 7. Investigators found phone numbers tied to New had contacted the SNAP EBT phone system more than 9,000 times and accessed more than 350 separate SNAP accounts, the department said, and more than 500 Georgia EBT cards are linked to New, with an estimated fraud loss of $4.4 million. New was arrested in Las Vegas on Oct. 13.
Other cases in the surge included a guilty plea in Florida, where Mark Frisbie admitted submitting false crop-insurance claims that underreported his crop production and caused the government to pay more than $1.7 million in indemnities it otherwise would not have paid, and a sentencing in Oregon, where Ana Patricia Escalante, described as the leader of a crew that bought infant formula with stolen food benefits, was sentenced Sept. 9 to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution.
“The human cost of these fraud 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,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
The Justice Department said the Fraud Division, announced April 7, supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs.
An indictment, information or complaint is merely an allegation, the department said, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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