Fifty-Four Defendants Charged in $18 Million WIC and Food Stamp Fraud Conspiracy
Thirty-Four Additional Defendants Charged with Allegedly Selling Their Federal Food Benefits for Cash
The 54-defendant indictment alleges that a number of defendants conspired to open purported grocery stores in Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Garden City, Lithonia, LaGrange, Stone Mountain, Riverdale, and elsewhere for the purpose of buying WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash. Once the purported stores were opened and approved as WIC and Food Stamp vendors, many of the defendants allegedly canvassed low-income neighborhoods and solicited WIC and Food Stamp participants to illegally exchange their benefits not for food but for cash. The defendants then allegedly bought WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash at a fraction of the amount they received from the USDA by redeeming the benefits they had purchased. The defendants also allegedly conspired to launder over $18 million in proceeds received from their fraud upon the WIC and Food Stamp programs.
Each of the 54 defendants listed in the larger indictment have been charged with one count of mail and wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. The United States further seeks the forfeiture of $20 million and various bank accounts and assets, including a 2008 Land Rover and a 2008 Mercedes Benz. Each of the 34 defendants charged with conspiring to sell their federal food benefits face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
