Vance, Blanche Announce $42 Million SNAP Fraud Bust: More Than 40 Charged in Nationwide Surge

Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday detailed a coordinated federal enforcement surge that uncovered nearly $42 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud, resulting in actions against more than 40 defendants across 13 federal districts and the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

The Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, working with the Department of Agriculture and USDA Office of Inspector General, launched the first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge on September 1. Over roughly seven weeks, the effort produced charges, indictments, guilty pleas, and sentencings tied to nearly $45 million in intended losses to the government, with almost $42 million involving SNAP benefits. A separate case concerned attempted fraud against a USDA crop-insurance program.

Officials said the schemes included trafficking of benefits through stolen electronic benefit transfer account information, fraudulent retailer transactions, skimming, identity theft, and the purchase and resale of infant formula and other goods on black markets. Blanche stated that “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.” He added that 220,000 Americans could have eaten for the entire month of October with the $42 million that was diverted.

Vance, who chairs the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, said the program is meant to ensure fellow citizens do not go hungry, but “there are people out there who decide to commit fraud against these programs, who, quite literally, in this case, will steal from the mouths of hungry children in order to enrich themselves.” The vice president’s task force has now identified roughly $641 million in SNAP fraud overall. Across federal programs, the administration has reported $260.7 billion in fraud uncovered since President Trump took office, along with $72 billion in fraud stopped on an annualized basis. More than 1,000 retailers have been banned from SNAP for violations including criminal trafficking of benefits, and nearly 5,000 others have been suspended and fined a combined $44 million for administrative violations. Officials also said the administration has destroyed more than 2,200 illegal point-of-sale devices and disabled more than 2,000 compromised retailer authorization numbers, actions estimated to have prevented more than $5 billion in potential fraudulent transactions.

In one case highlighted at the press conference held at the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio indicted Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors alleged the defendants, who operated approved retail food stores in Chicago, processed thousands of transactions using stolen Ohio and other state EBT account information between February 2024 and April 2025. The transactions allegedly generated no bona fide sales but caused state administrators to transfer federal funds, resulting in an estimated loss of approximately $29.7 million. Some proceeds were used to purchase automobiles for shipment overseas.

In the Northern District of Georgia, rapper and social media influencer Mercedes New, also known as Shawty Dred, was indicted on more than 40 counts including criminal food stamp fraud, mail fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Investigators determined that phone numbers associated with New contacted the SNAP interactive voice response system more than 9,000 times, accessing over 350 separate accounts. More than 500 Georgia EBT cards were linked to him, with an estimated fraud loss of $4.4 million. New’s company, Shawty Dred LLC, had been a SNAP-authorized retailer. He was arrested in Las Vegas on October 13. Vance noted that New had posted social media videos boasting about private jets and wealth while the scheme operated.

Other cases included a September sentencing in the District of Oregon in which Ana Patricia Escalante received 27 months in prison and was ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution. Escalante led a transport crew in a conspiracy involving more than $2.4 million in stolen SNAP benefits used to purchase and ship more than 124,000 pounds of infant formula for black-market resale. Court documents stated that most members of the theft crew were Romanian nationals unlawfully present in the United States. The scheme depleted benefits for thousands of low-income families nationwide.

In the Eastern District of Michigan, Kirk Deshaun Woodley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft after conspiring to submit hundreds of fraudulent SNAP applications using personal identifying information from more than 650 victims. His co-defendant was sentenced to 18 months. Additional cases involved identity theft and benefit fraud by individuals from Yemen and a Dominican Republic national suspected of being unlawfully in the United States, according to Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald. The Department of Homeland Security separately announced ICE arrests of illegal aliens from Haiti and Cuba accused of fraudulently accessing SNAP benefits.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in need and taxpayers. “Under the Trump Administration, food stamp fraud ends now.” USDA Inspector General John Walk stated that the fraud “despicably robs from low-income Americans that rely on the program for food assistance and diverts taxpayer funds to line the pockets of fraudsters and bankroll other criminal activities like guns and drugs.” He described the surge as only the beginning of ongoing enforcement.

The announcement followed President Trump’s Oval Office unveiling the day before of a Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program that offers a 1 percent commission to tipsters whose information leads to recovery of fraud proceeds, subject to applicable laws. Vance has previously said that stopping payments before they go out the door is more effective than attempting recovery after the fact, because “once it’s gone out the door, it’s very hard to get it back.” Criminal charges do not guarantee the government can recover the funds.

SNAP is a federally funded program that loads monthly benefits onto EBT cards for eligible low-income households to purchase food at authorized retailers. The program receives just over $100 billion in federal funding per year. Officials said the seven-week surge is part of a broader whole-of-government effort under the Vance-led task force to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in federal benefit programs.