Two individuals, Dawood Kassim, aged 31, and Dia Alqalisi, aged 26, have been charged with orchestrating a scheme to pilfer millions of dollars in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) out of a bodega located in New York City, which Kassim owned. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York disclosed in a news release on Tuesday that Kassim and Alqalisi allegedly conducted thousands of transactions through SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program, at Throop Farm Market in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, from April 2022 through December 2022.
Typically, under the SNAP Program, which utilizes federal tax dollars to assist low-income households, recipients utilize an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card to make purchases for household essentials and food. However, Kassim and Alqalisi purportedly permitted SNAP beneficiaries to exchange their benefits for cash or non-SNAP eligible items such as beer at the bodega. Subsequently, they retained a portion of the benefits for themselves as payment. Furthermore, Kassim allegedly engaged in the theft of SNAP benefits from “unsuspecting victims” by utilizing counterfeit and stolen SNAP EBT cards at the bodega.
According to prosecutors, the victims of these crimes encompassed SNAP benefit recipients residing in various states, including Tennessee, Virginia, and California. In total, through these illicit transactions, Kassim and Alqalisi accrued over $20 million in federally funded SNAP benefits. This sum included more than $7 million in SNAP benefits from the accounts of recipients residing outside of New York.
The two individuals were apprehended on Tuesday morning and charged with SNAP fraud, access device fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions based on an indictment. It remains unclear whether they have retained legal representation.
Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, condemned the defendants’ actions, stating that they “illegally” profited from benefits intended for “those in need of nutritious meals.” He emphasized the importance of such assistance, especially during times of elevated food costs, and underscored that the arrests serve as a warning to those who exploit government programs for personal gain.