Post a comment | View comments (2)Posted on 05/31/2007 1:13:13 PM PDT by Diago
The leader of one of the biggest food-stamp fraud rings in Ohio was sentenced to less than three years in prison Thursday during a secret hearing.
U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster sentenced Amin Salem to 33 months in prison for his role in a $7.7 million food stamp fraud ring dating back to 1995. It's the second time Salem has been convicted of stealing from the program designed to feed poor people.
Salem was supposed to be sentenced last week, but Polster delayed it for undisclosed reasons. Polster gave no notice of the rescheduled hearing and said Thursday it was his decision to seal the hearing.
"I sealed the hearing because some of the things said at the hearing," Polster said. "I obviously can't discuss why it was sealed. That would defeat the purpose of the sealing."
Last year, Polster kicked a reporter out of this courtroom before taking a guilty plea from Sami Salem, Amin's brother. Polster said at the time that the plea agreement had to remain secret or it would jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations.
Federal prosecutors have repeatedly declined to discuss the Salem brothers or what information they might be providing to investigators.
Sami Salem was sentenced last week to one year in prison.
Collectively, the Salem brothers have stolen $14.3 million from the food stamp and other welfare programs from their store at 6206 Woodland Avenue.
The brothers both live in Westlake. They got longer prison sentences the first time they pleaded guilty, in 1993, even though they stole less money - $6.6 million in between 1987 and 1992, compared to $7.7 million between 1995 and 2001.
In the first case, Amin Salem got about three years in prison while Sami Salem got about two years in prison.
The brothers' scam dates back to 1987, when they began accepting food stamps for items not permitted under the program rules, such as beer and cigarettes. They also paid cash for the food stamps, sometimes as low as 50 cents for each $1 in food stamp credit, and then redeemed them for full value.
The Salem brothers were arrested and became the first people in Ohio sent to prison for food stamp fraud. But the scam started again shortly before they got out of prison.
Between 1995 and 2001, the Salems' accepted $11.4 million worth of welfare benefits, $7.7 million of which were illegal.
The brothers were arrested in 2005, as were their wives. Charges against Nefuz and Annie Salem were dropped last week when the family agreed to pay back $2.5 million of the stolen $7.7 million.
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So, what were Amir and Sami doing with all that stolen money? No doubt putting it to “peaceful” uses, I’m sure!/s
I dunno-—seems to me that 3 years in jail is a small price to pay for 7.7 mil. Think how much that money would be worth if invested wisely —when they get out! If I were of a criminal mind, I might take the chance myself if I thought I’d only get a less than 3 yr sentence.
You can get 20 years for stealing a pen from the bank and you can steal 7.7 million from the government and get time off for good behavior.
5.2 million. They had to give some of it back.
That showed ‘em.
In order to get off that lightly, these two guys must be singing like canaries.
Air America never had to give back the tax money they stole from Boys & Girls Clubs and no one ever spent a day in prison.
So they clear $5.2M; one goes to jail for 24 mos, the other 33 mos. That’s almost $100K/month on top of what they earned during the scam. Most people could survive a short term imprisonment for $100K/month, plus whatever interest the scammed money was accruing.
Okay, who got the kickback to certify them as a Food Stamp vendor after their first conviction?
Their certification should have been lifted. What happened to that?
Maybe the USDA forgot to read the newspaper the day they were sentenced.
1. This guy, and his brother, have given information that will allow the Feds to take down the Tony Soprano of Ohio.
2. The fix is in.
Given that the Feds are notorious for delaying sentencing for cooperating witnesses until after they have testified, option 1 seems unlikely. The Feds are smart enough, on the whole, to not give a guy a sweetheart deal until after they have gotten him to testify in Court. They don't want him to get off light, then act like the old Mobster in Godfather II, who suddenly remembered under oath that neither he, nor Vito Corleone, had ever been mobsters, but that they had just been in the olive oil business together.
Sent to prison for 3 years in a secret hearing? The first is obvious; but don’t understand the secret hearing.
Think “Hamas” or “Hezbollah”
At least AA keeps claiming they will pay the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. They won’t actually pay it back, but they acknowledge the debt. These families are into the US taxpayers for 14.3 million dollars. The insistence that they return 2.5 million is a joke.
What an R.O.I., for both parties. It’s typical for the government. I can imagine some moronic government bureaucrat’s (oxymoron) shocked answer, “Did you expect us to ask for all of it back?”
Yes!
What?
I wonder how much of their loot was kicked back into Democrat campaign coffers, including the judge’s.
“I wonder how much of their loot was kicked back into Democrat campaign coffers, including the judge’s.”
Me too. Can we request an audit of their campaign funds? (From out of state, in my case.)
Free Republic. Asking the Questions Americans DO Want Asked.
Absolutely, can’t you tell they are peaceful quakers? I bet they came here from Ireland./s
Smells like blackmail.
So, what were Amir and Sami doing with all that stolen money? No doubt putting it to “peaceful” uses, I’m sure!/s”
Just doing the jobs that real Americans won’t do......
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