The Justice Department, the Department of Agriculture and the USDA Office of Inspector General announced a nationwide enforcement effort that targeted alleged fraud involving SNAP and related USDA programs.
Officials said the effort ran from Sept. 1 to Oct. 21 and led to action against more than 40 people in cases involving nearly $45 million in intended losses to the federal government. Nearly $42 million involved alleged SNAP benefits fraud, the Justice Department said in a news release.
The Justice Department said 13 U.S. attorneys’ offices and the Utah Attorney General’s Office took part in what it called the department’s first National USDA Benefits and Program Fraud Enforcement Surge.
One case filed in the Northern District of Georgia allegedly involved rapper and social media influencer Mercedes New, also known as Shawty Dred.
The DOJ said he was accused of food stamp fraud, access device fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The investigation, according to the federal officials, started last year when the Georgia Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General said there was an attack on the interactive voice response system (IVR) used by SNAP recipients and that a phone number linked to New accessed the line more than 9,000 times, involving more than 350 individual SNAP accounts. The total value of the transactions at that time was estimated at $1.8 million, with about $635,000 made at Shawty Dred LLC in Atlanta, a previously SNAP-authorized store owned by New.
He was arrested at an East Point, Georgia, Walmart in November 2025 for allegedly soliciting customers to buy SNAP cards from him. East Point Police allegedly seized 14 Georgia EBT cards, accounting for more than 350 calls made to the IVR system from his store’s phone number.
Officials said that more than 500 Georgia EBT cards are linked to New and that the total estimated loss is $4.4 million. He was arrested in this sweep in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, the DOJ said.
Another case involved attempted fraud against a USDA crop insurance program, officials said.
One victim whose electronic benefit transfer card was compromised found out the benefits were gone when her card was declined at a grocery store, according to officials. They said she took out loans to feed her children.
There were also alleged cases in Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and other areas.
“These schemes siphoned millions from taxpayers and robbed struggling Americans of the benefits they depend on so fraudsters could use them for their own selfish purposes,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a news release.
“Every instance of SNAP fraud has two victims: families in dire need and taxpayers. Today, we are reminding fraudsters that we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins said in a news release.