Justice Department says nationwide SNAP fraud surge brought actions against more than 40 defendants

As of 6:09 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026

The Justice Department and the Agriculture Department said Wednesday that a nationwide enforcement surge targeting fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program resulted in 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 that amount involved fraud against SNAP benefits, which provide monthly food assistance to low-income individuals and families, the Justice Department said in a release. Another case involved attempted fraud against a USDA crop-insurance program, according to the release.

The surge

Between Sept. 1 and Wednesday, the department's National Fraud Enforcement Division, 13 U.S. attorneys' offices and the Utah attorney general's office carried out what the department called its first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge, working with the USDA Office of Inspector General, the release said. The department's headline described the surge as "involving suspected illegal aliens"; the release did not say how many of the defendants it believes are in the country illegally.

"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," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the release.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said: "Every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in dire need and taxpayers. ... Under the Trump Administration, food stamp fraud ends now."

Vice President JD Vance, who chairs President Donald Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, said in a post on X: "We have way too much fraud in the SNAP program ... we are fighting and winning the war against fraud in the SNAP program."

Cases the department highlighted

The largest case listed in the release is an indictment in the Southern District of Ohio charging Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan, who the department said operated approved retail food stores in Chicago, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors allege that between about February 2024 and April 2025 the defendants and others processed thousands of transactions using stolen Ohio and other state EBT account information, causing an estimated loss of about $29.7 million, the release said.

In the Northern District of Georgia, a federal grand jury on Oct. 7 indicted Mercedes New, a rapper and social media influencer known as Shawty Dred, on charges of criminal food stamp fraud, mail fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, the department said. Investigators linked more than 500 Georgia EBT cards to New, with an estimated loss of $4.4 million in stolen benefits, according to the release, which said New was arrested in Las Vegas on Oct. 13.

Other cases listed include an indictment in the Western District of Michigan charging a Lansing convenience-store owner with theft or conversion of public money and nine counts of SNAP benefits fraud, with an intended loss of $1,089,949; criminal complaints in the Northern District of Ohio charging six people with SNAP benefits fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in an alleged scheme at a gas station convenience store in Euclid, Ohio, estimated at more than $1 million; and a complaint in Massachusetts accusing a man of using a stolen identity to obtain $22,402 in SNAP benefits along with other public benefits.

The release also lists cases that have ended in guilty pleas or sentences, including a Florida farmer who pleaded guilty on Sept. 29 to submitting a false crop-insurance claim, and an Oregon case in which the leader of a transport crew was sentenced on Sept. 9 to 27 months in federal prison in a conspiracy involving more than $2.4 million in stolen SNAP benefits.

The department said an indictment, information or complaint is merely an allegation and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

What is not known

The release highlights 10 cases and does not list all of the more than 40 defendants, say how many have been charged as opposed to convicted, or say how much money has been recovered. It was not known whether lawyers for the defendants named in the release had responded to the accusations.