Welfare systems can enable dishonesty and fraud — who knew? A former employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and five other people have been charged in a massive food stamp fraud and bribery scandal.
Federal government welfare is inherently socialist and un-American (the Founders certainly thought so), and it inevitably tends toward corruption, entitlement, and abuse. We’ve all probably seen people with designer clothes and accessories buying groceries with food stamps, but Arlasa Davis and her co-defendants took fraud to a whole different and lucrative level. In fact, they committed one of the biggest U.S. food stamp frauds ever.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press release on May 29 announcing charges against six individuals, one of whom (Davis) was a former federal employee, in connection with tens of millions of dollars in unauthorized transactions involving the food stamp program. USDA, FBI, and DOJ authorities have brought the charges.
[A] Superseding Indictment charg[es] six individuals in connection with a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”)—colloquially known as food stamps. This is one of the largest food stamp frauds in U.S. history. The defendants—MICHAEL KEHOE, MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and ARLASA DAVIS—are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds and to misappropriate U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) benefits, among other charges. DAVIS, a USDA employee, is additionally charged with bribery and honest services fraud.
Perry Carbonne, U.S. attorney, explained how Davis enabled the staggering fraud scheme. “This fraud was made possible when USDA employee Arlasa Davis betrayed the public trust by selling confidential government information to the very criminals she was supposed to catch. Their actions undermined a program that vulnerable New Yorkers depend on for basic nutrition,” Carbonne declared.
Recommended: SCOTUS Sides With Trump, Revokes Protected Status for Half a Million Aliens
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia added more details on how Davis shared the confidential information. “Arlasa Davis, a USDA employee, is alleged to have abused her position and privileged access to confidential government databases to assist her co-conspirators in exploiting the SNAP program, driving tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent transactions,” he stated.
Sometimes good systems are misused and abused. And sometimes the systems were bad to begin with. I think we can say with this fraud scheme that it’s most definitely the latter case — an already bad system exploited for even worse ends.
Please support PJ Media’s conservative reporting on government corruption. Join PJ Media VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!