MIAMI -- In Operation Stampede, what is being called the largest food-stamp trafficking takedown in history in terms of financial loss, law enforcement agencies filed federal charges last week against 22 Florida store owners or operators, including one convenience-store owner, in connection with schemes to illegally redeem food-stamp benefits for cash. Allegedly, the defendants fraudulently obtained more than $13 million dollars in EBT deposits for transactions in which the stores did not provide food.
According to the indictments, the defendants or their co-conspirators or employees swiped the recipient’s EBT card at a point-of-sale (POS) machine for an inflated amount and paid the recipient, in cash, a reduced percentage of the value of food-stamp benefits charged on the card. The defendants would realize a guaranteed, significant profit from each fraudulent transaction. In most situations, the recipient did not actually receive any food or eligible items in return for their food-stamp benefits.
In addition to the federal indictments, the Office of Statewide Prosecution charged six individuals for their alleged receipt of additional illegal payments during the course of their participation in fraudulent food-stamp schemes.
While most of the business are best classified as food stands, produce stands and “flea-market” retailers, one—ABC Food Market in Miami—is a convenience store owned by Zulfiqar Mithavayani. Since March 2013, Mithavayani and associate Jamal Al-Hawa allegedly redeemed and caused to be redeemed more than $1.1 million in EBT food-stamp benefits, more than $1 million more than the average convenience store in Florida during this period, according to the indictment.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federally funded, national program established by the United States government to alleviate hunger and malnutrition among lower income families. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers SNAP through its agency, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). FNS is responsible for the authorization and disqualification of retail food establishments participating in the redemption of SNAP benefits.
The law enforcement officials and agencies included Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Karen Citizen-Wilcox, special agent in charge for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General; and Pam Bondi, Florida attorney general, among several other state and federal law enforcement agencies.
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