“This investigation and prosecution should send a strong zero-tolerance message to those individuals who create businesses for the purpose of specifically defrauding the taxpayer funded WIC and SNAP programs,” said Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent-in-Charge, USDA-OIG-Investigations. Attorney’s Office is committed to working with our federal and state partners to investigate and prosecute complex financial fraud, especially when it attacks government programs funded by taxpayers of the United States.” The Government alleges that the defendants stole taxpayer-funded benefits intended to feed the most needy families and children in our communities. Tarver said, “This prosecution is one of the largest federal food program frauds ever brought. The 34 defendants charged separately from the larger indictment are alleged to have sold for cash over $1,000 worth of their own WIC or Food Stamp benefits and the WIC or Food Stamp benefits of their minor children. The defendants also allegedly conspired to launder over $18 million in proceeds received from their fraud upon the WIC and Food Stamp programs. 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. 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 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. Both the WIC and Food Stamp programs are administered through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and paid for by federal tax dollars. It is a crime to exchange WIC or Food Stamp benefits for cash. The Food Stamp Program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides “Food Stamp” benefits to low-income families through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are similar to debit cards. Participants in the WIC program receive 3-month supplies of WIC vouchers, which they can exchange at authorized stores for the healthy foods listed on the vouchers. Georgia’s Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program provides infant formula, juice, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other healthy foods to low-income pregnant and postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are nutritionally at risk. A list of all of the defendants charged is attached. In addition to the 54-defendant indictment, 34 other defendants have been charged separately for allegedly selling their WIC vouchers and Food Stamp benefits for cash. The indictment represents one of the largest federal food program frauds ever prosecuted, which fraud allegedly involved the purchase of over $18 million in WIC vouchers and Food Stamp benefits for cash through a number of purported grocery stores set up throughout Georgia. SAVANNAH, GA: A federal indictment, today unsealed in Savannah, has charged 54 defendants for their alleged roles in a massive fraud upon the WIC and Food Stamp programs. Selling their federal food benefits for cash 34 additional defendants charged with allegedly
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