Haitian men charged with $7 million fraud scheme in Massachusetts

Authorities successful Massachusetts charged 2 Haitian men with SNAP programme fraud amounting to implicit $7 cardinal connected Wednesday.

The suspects, 74-year-old Antonio Bonheur and 21-year-old Saul Alisme, each look 1 complaint of nutrient stamp fraud. District of Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said the 2 men utilized tiny storefronts, the Jesula Variety Store and Saul Mache Mixe Store, to redeem the SNAP benefits sometimes amounting to $500,000 per month.

"These were not supermarkets. They were not full-service groceries. It would beryllium a immense agelong to adjacent telephone them convenience stores," Foley said astatine a Wednesday property conference. "The lone happening convenient astir these stores was however casual it was to perpetrate SNAP payment fraud."

"This was not a blase fraud scene, and it didn't person to beryllium due to the fact that a deficiency of oversight was each that was needed to let it to happen," Foley said.

‘SCHEMES STACKED UPON SCHEMES’: $1B HUMAN-SERVICES FRAUD FUELS SCRUTINY OF MINNESOTA’S SOMALI COMMUNITY

Authorities charged 2 Haitian men with defrauding $7 cardinal successful SNAP benefits successful Massachusetts connected Wednesday, December 16, 2025. (DOJ)

If convicted, the 2 men look up to 5 years successful situation arsenic good arsenic 3 years of supervised merchandise and a good of up to $250,000.

Prosecutors accidental the immense bulk of the fraud took spot from the Jesula storefront. Gov. Maura Healey says authorities officials notified national authorities astir suspicious transactions astatine the store earlier this year.

"My medication reported this suspicious enactment to the national authorities for probe and prosecution implicit a twelvemonth ago," Healey said successful a statement. "As a erstwhile Attorney General and present Governor, I volition ever enactment prosecution to the fullest grade of the instrumentality for anyone who engages successful fraud oregon maltreatment of a national programme oregon immoderate program."

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A store wherever Haitian migrants fraudulently redeemed SNAP benefits, according to national authorities. (DOJ)

News of the fraud comes aft President Donald Trump's medication threatened to chopped disconnected national backing for Democrat-run states if they bash not inspect SNAP payment payments. Federal authorities are enacting a crackdown connected payment fraud, acknowledgment successful ample portion to Somali immigrants allegedly defrauding Minnesota taxpayers of astir $1 cardinal nether Gov. Tim Walz.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing dense scrutiny implicit fraud issues successful Minnesota. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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Walz announced successful a property league past week that helium is installing a caller statewide prevention programme that volition enactment with a backstage steadfast specializing successful forensic auditing.

Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.