USDA Employee And Five Others Charged In Multimillion-Dollar Food Stamp Fraud And Bribery Scheme

Justice.gov ^ | 5/29/25 | staff

[CFW]

Perry Carbone, Attorney for the United States, Acting under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515; Charmeka Parker, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General (“USDA-OIG”); and Christopher G. Raia, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation(“FBI”), announced the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging six individuals in connection with a sprawling fraud and bribery scheme that generated over $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”)—colloquially known as food stamps. This is one of the largest food stamp frauds in U.S. history. The defendants—MICHAEL KEHOE, MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and ARLASA DAVIS—are charged with conspiracy to steal government funds and to misappropriate U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) benefits, among other charges. DAVIS, a USDA employee, is additionally charged with bribery and honest services fraud. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

“Michael Kehoe and his co-conspirators misappropriated tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds meant to help low-income families put food on the table,” said U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone. “This fraud was made possible when USDA employee Arlasa Davis betrayed the public trust by selling confidential government information to the very criminals she was supposed to catch. Their actions undermined a program that vulnerable New Yorkers depend on for basic nutrition. These charges should be a reminder that those who exploit anti-poverty programs for personal gain will be held accountable for their crimes.”

[snip]

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia said: “Arlasa Davis, a USDA employee, is alleged to have abused her position and privileged access to confidential government databases to assist her co-conspirators in exploiting the SNAP program, driving tens of millions of dollars ...."

[CFW]

I'm sure this is just a tiny tip of the iceberg of corruption.

[Aria]

Arlasa Davis:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/arlasa-davis-1712233a

[George from New England]

Any native names ?

[9YearLurker]

38 years at the USDA.

[George from New England]

Please post info at that linkedin link as most freeper do not allow tracking

[hanamizu]

MICHAEL KEHOE, MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and ARLASA DAVIS

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Diversity is our strength! /s

[Aria]

Native to somewhere besides USA:

MOHAMAD NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, GAMAL OBAID, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH

[shotgun]

Some judge will rule she get to keep her pension and have that money deposited monthly into her prison commissary account

[mass55th]

"I'm sure this is just a tiny tip of the iceberg of corruption."

I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the fraud that's been ongoing hasn't been at the hands of government employees.

[thinden]

“Michael Kehoe and his co-conspirators misappropriated tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds meant to help low-income families put food on the table,” said U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone. “This fraud was made possible when USDA employee Arlasa Davis betrayed the public trust by selling confidential government information to the very criminals she was supposed to catch.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

microcosm of the corruption

[bertmerc1]

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

Appointed by Bill Clinton, Harvard Law School.....

[Steve_Seattle]

If this story is mentioned at all in the NYT, it will be on page 8, below the fold. It is likely to get zero mention on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, and NPR.

[Doctor Congo]

The government person is Arlasa Davis.

I looked up her name with USDA and found out she is the chapter president of the local National Treasury Employees Union.
https://www.nteu.org/~/media/Files/nteu/docs/public/fns/255/welcome-letter.pdf?la=en

Her lauded accomplishments:
More Telework Days
Brand New Remote Work Option

[Doctor Congo]

This might be her picture: https://x.com/Sweetdarkbrown/status/1137887819903512577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1137887819903512577%7Ctwgr%5Ea4e4e9914aa41699bb5818e6c7ce399325ca6b4d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_

[ronnie raygun]

Again I say prepare Gitmo for incoming

[suthener]

If they truly got rid of fraud and corruption, and truly got rid of DIE, the black middle class will totally collapse.

[Doctor Congo]

Nawafleh and Alrawashdeh are most common in Saudi Arabia.
Obaid is an Iraqi name.

[Doctor Congo]

From the original article:

Starting in 2019, KEHOE orchestrated a network that supplied approximately 160 unauthorized EBT terminals to stores across the New York area to illegally process more than $30 million in EBT transactions. Working with his codefendants NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, OBAID, and EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, KEHOE submitted approximately 200 fraudulent USDA applications, misappropriating USDA license numbers and, in some cases, doctoring application documents, to obtain EBT terminals for unauthorized stores—including smoke shops and other ineligible businesses.

Critical to the scheme was ARLASA DAVIS, a longtime USDA employee who worked within the very division of the USDA responsible for identifying SNAP fraud. DAVIS abused her privileged access to federal systems to sell hundreds of EBT license numbers enabling over $36 million in fraudulent SNAP redemptions at unauthorized stores. DAVIS photographed handwritten lists of license numbers intended for qualifying stores with her personal cellphone and funneled them to an intermediary who sold them to co-conspirators, including NAWAFLEH, OMAR ALRAWASHDEH, EMAD ALRAWASHDEH, and OBAID, who then used those license numbers to fraudulently obtain EBT terminals for stores that were not authorized by the USDA to process SNAP transactions. In return, DAVIS received substantial bribes that were disguised in communications as, among other things, “birthday gifts” and “flowers.”

[newfreep]

Mohamad Nawafleh
Omar Alrawashdeh
Gamal Obaid
Emad Alrawashdeh
Arlasa Davis

If only there was a common thread to those individuals...

[Ditto]

I'm sure this is just a tiny tip of the iceberg of corruption.

I agree with you on that. These bastards need to be convicted and locked up for decades. Maybe even longer. They are rotten bastards, but typical of what the deep state has created.