OAKLAND — A federal grand jury indicted an Alameda man and two Oakland men on multiple charges connected to wire and benefits fraud, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman said.
According to a superseding indictment issued March 14 and unsealed today, Ali Hassan, 29, of Alameda, owned a convenience store on Oakland’s International Boulevard and employed family members, including Mugali Hassan, 48, and Ahmed Dharahan, 38, of Oakland.
The three men are accused of defrauding the U.S. Department of Agriculture through unlawful trafficking of federal SNAP benefits, using the store’s vendor status and redemption of over $2.3 million between August 2014 and November 2017.
When the men bought benefits from store customers for 50 cents on the dollar, customers received cash and the men carried out fraudulent benefit transactions to get the benefits’ full-dollar value.
After taking and keeping the customers’ SNAP benefit cards, the men were able to use them at other stores to buy items.
All three were charged with a count of conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and to defraud the United States, one count of benefits fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and twelve counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
After the men’s court appearance Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Kandis Westmore, she arraigned them and released them on bond. Dharahan and Ali Hassan will appear Tuesday to identify counsel, followed by more bond hearings for all three men.
If convicted, they face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit benefits fraud.
Each count of benefits fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, or wire fraud could earn the men up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, as well as three years’ supervised release, as well as any other judge-ordered assessments or restitution terms, depending on federal sentence-imposition guidelines.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katie Burroughs Medearis is prosecuting the case, which resulted from an investigation by the USDA’s office of the inspector-general with help from Oakland police, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with the assistance of Jessica Gonzalez.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.