In Ohio press conference, Vance announces $42 million in SNAP fraud, including $30 million in Buckeye State

Federal authorities have launched a nationwide investigation into food stamp fraud, charging several people in Ohio who allegedly exploited the program meant for low-income Americans.

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance and Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, joined by other federal officials, held a news conference at the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, to announce a large-scale anti-fraud crackdown on food stamp fraudsters.

The Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division uncovered alleged or proven schemes tied to more than $42 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud, federal officials announced during the news conference.

SNAP is a federally funded food assistance program that helps low-income individuals and families purchase groceries.

In total, 13 U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Utah Attorney General’s Office join federal partners in pursuing criminal charges against more than 40 alleged fraudsters across the country. Two cases out of Ohio total more than $30 million in alleged SNAP benefit theft.

Vice President Vance, who grew up in Ohio, leads the anti-fraud task force, which was created in February to investigate and prosecute people stealing from American taxpayers.

Vance spoke about his own family members who received SNAP benefits and how the fraud impacts not only hardworking taxpayers, but people who rely on food assistance to feed their families.

He also called out some of the individuals facing federal charges, including a Georgia man named “Shawty Dred,” who allegedly committed $4.4 million in fraud against SNAP.

“…To present that card, to expect to be able to take that food home to your family, to be able to cook it and provide a meal for your kids, and to be told because of the work of a fraudster, because the theft of a fraudster, that you are being rejected,” Vance shared in a post on X. “And there are thousands and hundreds of thousands of families all across our country, all across the state of Ohio, who have had that experience because their benefits went to go and pay for private jets for people like Shawty Dred. It is despicable and I’m proud of this team for making it stop.”

Officials highlighted schemes involving electronic benefit transfer card skimming and the theft of food assistance funds by store owners, illegal immigrants and other bad actors.

Blanche referenced one recent victim, a mother with two children, whose electronic benefit transfer card was compromised. She realized she was a victim of fraud after her card was declined at a grocery store, and she had to take out loans and go to the food pantry to feed her children.

“Two hundred and twenty-thousand Americans could have eaten for the entire month of October if it weren’t for this $42 million in fraud,” Blanche said. “This is a concerted effort to literally take food out of the mouths of children.”

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said federal prosecutors in Southern Ohio returned an indictment against two individuals in connection with a $29.7 million loss.

“The human cost of these fraud schemes is measured not in spreadsheets, but in the panic of a mother whose card is declined and the hunger her children endure because someone hijacked their benefits,” McDonald said.

A federal grand jury indicted Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan on charges that the two men made thousands of fake food purchases with SNAP funds. Prosecutors charged and arrested the men in Chicago Wednesday morning.

Yaseen and Kanaan operated approved retail food stores in Chicago, Illinois. Prosecutors allege that, between approximately February 2024 and April 2025, the defendants and others processed thousands of transactions using stolen Ohio and other state EBT account information.

In another case in the Northern District of Ohio, several individuals were charged with $1 million in intended benefit fraud through a scheme tied to a convenience store in Euclid, Ohio.

On Oct. 6, Sqar Qahtan, 31, Baligh Naji, 34, Ahmed Al Hamami, 36, all citizens of Yemen residing in Euclid, Ohio, along with Mohsin Mohsin, 28, of Syracuse, New York; Mariah Hatcher, 30, of Euclid, Ohio, and Almotawakil Nassr, 29, of Detroit, Michigan, were charged in criminal complaints with SNAP benefits fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

For approximately two years, the defendants allegedly operated a conspiracy to exchange Ohio SNAP benefit cards for cash, marijuana, and other non-SNAP items while employed at a gas station convenience store in Euclid, Ohio.

According to federal prosecutors, the larger conspiracy is estimated to have involved more than $1 million in fraudulently obtained food stamp benefits.

“These schemes inflict real harm on real American families, and they erode the trust taxpayers place in programs designed to keep Americans fed, McDonald said. “That is why the Fraud Division is acting with urgency, not just to prosecute fraud, but to protect the people who depend on these lifelines.”

In June, a New York retailer was indicted for allegedly stealing over $640,000 in SNAP benefits from Ohio recipients.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury handed down an indictment against Hot Spot Convenience 2 and its principal operator, 52-year-old Raed Subhi Abu Mohammad, based on an investigation by Ohio Investigative Unit agents.

Mohammad is accused of processing nearly 3,000 illegal EBT transactions, totaling more than $643,000 in SNAP benefits stolen from Ohio recipients, according to the indictment. He defrauded more than $260,000 in SNAP benefits from Cuyahoga County victims.

The Fraud Division, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the USDA Office of Inspector General, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and other law enforcement partners were involved in the USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge.

The White House has reportedly identified $260.7 billion in fraud across the federal government since Trump took office, according to The White House’s webpage devoted to fraud.

On Tuesday, Trump and Vance unveiled a Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, a $25 million effort to give Americans a 1% commission on credible fraud reports.

The SNAP benefit fraud indictments are part of the Trump administration’s broader push to root out waste and abuse in federal benefit programs, following prior actions like USDA’s Operation SNAP Back in New York’s five boroughs and recent high-profile indictments.

In Georgia, social media personality Mercedes Reshard New, who goes by “Shawty Dred,” was arrested Oct. 13 for allegedly stealing more than $4 million in SNAP benefits.

New, 39, of Atlanta, Georgia, allegedly controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts that were created using stolen identities and flaunted his lavish lifestyle on Instagram and TikTok, federal officials said.

During his visit to Ohio, Vance campaigned alongside U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for governor, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Vance praised the work of Husted and other Republican lawmakers to increase mandatory minimum prison sentences for fraud actors.

“So, John Husted and a number of other congressional Republicans have worked with us to try to increase the mandatory minimums when we catch fraudsters,” Vance said. “If you commit fraud against SNAP, you should go to jail, and you should go to jail for a very long time.”