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Thursday, October 22, 2026

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Justice Department · Thursday, October 22, 2026

Justice Department announces a food-stamp fraud sweep

The File desk · Oct. 22, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET

Partially confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Partially confirmed. The Justice Department's Oct. 21, 2026 release describes a surge of cases and gives loss figures. Some defendants have been convicted or have pleaded guilty. Others are accused. Charges are allegations unless the release says the person was convicted or sentenced.
  • Confirmed
    The department said that since Sept. 1 it has brought actions against more than 40 defendants, involving nearly $45 million in intended losses, nearly $42 million of that against SNAP.
  • Partially confirmed
    Individual cases in the release mix accusations, indictments, and completed cases. Each one is only as far along as the release says.
The Justice Department said Wednesday that a crackdown since Sept. 1 produced actions against more than 40 people in schemes aimed at nearly $45 million in federal benefits. Nearly $42 million of that, the department said, was food-stamp fraud.1
The release calls the effort the department's first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge, run with 13 U.S. attorneys' offices and the Utah attorney general. The largest matter it names is United States v. Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan, in the Southern District of Ohio, No. 3:26-cr-00099, with $29.7 million in intended loss. The department says that they operated approved food stores in Chicago and processed transactions with stolen benefit-card numbers. A separate case, United States v. Mercedes New, also called Shawty Dred, in the Northern District of Georgia, says she was indicted Oct. 7. Those details are the department's, and where they are charges they are allegations.1
The release's only case-level line about immigration status, as used here, concerns a crew in Oregon. It says most of them were Romanian nationals unlawfully present. This story does not apply that description to the other defendants. The headline on the department's release uses a broader label. This story does not.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. Food-stamp benefits are a month's groceries for the household that holds the card. Stolen card numbers, run through a store, can empty that balance. The department's figures are intended losses across many cases, not a single theft from one family, and not every person named has been convicted.
The release date is Oct. 21, 2026, and the surge window it names starts Sept. 1.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.Department of Justice, Oct. 21, 2026. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dojs-fraud-division-department-agriculture-and-usda-oig-uncover-nearly-42m-snap-benefit “Between Sept. 1, and today, the Fraud Division, 13 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and the Utah Attorney General’s Office conducted the Department’s first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge.” Actions “against more than 40 defendants” and “nearly $45 million in intended losses.” “Nearly $42 million of that amount involved fraud against SNAP benefits.” United States v. Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan, S.D. Ohio, No. 3:26-cr-00099, “$29.7 million intended Loss,” Chicago stores, stolen EBT account information. United States v. Mercedes New (“Shawty Dred”), N.D. Ga., indicted Oct. 7. The Oregon crew is described as most of them Romanian nationals unlawfully present. That sentence is not applied to anyone else. Charges are allegations; defendants are presumed innocent.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • How many of the 40 defendants have been convicted, and how many are only accused. The release mixes the two.
  • A national count of stolen-card victims. Not in the sentences used here.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    SNAP benefit fraud enforcement surge

    U.S. Department of Justice · October 21, 2026

    The department said actions against more than 40 defendants involved nearly $45 million in intended losses, nearly $42 million of that against SNAP.

    https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dojs-fraud-division-department-agriculture-and-usda-oig-uncover-nearly-42m-snap-benefit

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