U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins says the agency is ‘hyper-focused’ on ending waste, fraud and abuse, and talks latest policy initiatives.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture employee and five others are under arrest as of Friday morning, after allegedly misappropriating tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer food stamp funds.
“At [the] USDA, we are hyper-focused… on rooting out that waste, fraud and abuse, and… yesterday was, if not the largest, one of [the] largest stings,” Secretary Brooke Rollins said on “Mornings with Maria” Friday.
“This is a new day, and President Trump promised, as he was traveling across the country over the last few years,” she continued, “that it would not be the government that we know.”
With the assistance of the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office, six individuals have been criminally charged with a bribe and fraud scheme that generated more than $66 million in unauthorized transactions under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ MEDICAID WORK REQUIREMENTS COULD SEE MILLIONS KICKED OFF BENEFIT ROLLS
The defendants – Michael Kehoe, Mohamad Nawafleh, Omar Alrawashdeh, Gamal Obaid, Emad Alrawashdeh and Arlasa Davis – are accused of “conspiracy to steal government funds and to misappropriate U.S. Department of Agriculture benefits,” according to a press release.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency unveiled “one of the largest stings” in its history. (Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Starting in 2019, the indictment states that Kehoe created a network that supplied 160 unauthorized electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to stores across the New York area, to illegally process more than $30 million in EBT transactions.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone said in the media release.
President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins answer a reporter’s question about American beef and agriculture products related to the U.S.-U.K. trade deal.
“These charges should be a reminder that those who exploit anti-poverty programs for personal gain will be held accountable for their crimes,” Carbone expanded.
The group also allegedly created fraudulent USDA applications, misappropriated license numbers and, in some cases, doctored application documents for unauthorized stores.
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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins discusses bringing down the cost of food on ‘Kudlow.’
“That is no longer going to be allowed here in Washington, and with these programs like the food stamp program. So we’re going to move forward, obviously in partnership with the FBI, with the Department of Justice, of course our team at USDA. This is not the ‘one and only,’” Rollins said. “There are going to be many more to come, and we’re gonna make sure that we’re delivering on our promises to the taxpayers.”
“It’s just the tip of the spear,” the secretary added. “We’re trying to lock it down right now to ensure that it doesn’t keep happening. But when you’ve got employees that basically don’t follow the law, then we’ve got to fix it, and that’s what we’re doing. There’s going to be real consequences for breaking the law across America’s federal government with President Trump, but this is just one of many more to come.”
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