Federal prosecutors just blew the lid off a 7 million SNAP fraud scheme in Boston
Federal prosecutors just blew the lid off a $7 MILLION SNAP fraud scheme in Boston.
Two Haitian nationals have been charged for running so-called “ghost stores” — tiny shops with barely any inventory that were somehow cashing $540,000 a MONTH in EBT.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were each charged with one count of food stamp fraud. The defendants were arrested this morning and will appear in federal court in Boston at 3:15 p.m. today.
Bonheur owned Jesula Variety Store and Alisme owned Saul Mache Mixe Store, both of which operated as small variety stores within a single street-facing storefront in the Mattapan neighborhood of Boston. Jesula Variety Store occupied about 150 square feet. Saul Mache Mixe Store occupied about 500 square feet.
According to the charging documents, despite their limited size, inventory and food offerings, both stores allegedly exhibited extraordinarily high SNAP redemption volumes, far beyond what could reasonably be supported by legitimate food sales. Specifically, transaction data allegedly revealed that the stores had exceptionally large and anomalous average monthly SNAP redemption rates when compared to similarly situated businesses of the same size, type and location.
It is alleged that the defendants’ monthly SNAP redemptions for Jesula Variety Store regularly exceeded $100,000 – with many months exceeding $300,000 and, at times, $500,000. By comparison, one full-service supermarket in the same area redeems approximately $82,000 per month in SNAP benefits.
Additionally, transaction-level data showed that only approximately 10%of SNAP transactions were for amounts under $40, while more than 70% of transactions exceeded $95. Such transaction patterns are typically associated with large supermarkets, not small variety stores with limited food inventory.
