Immigrant racks up millions in food stamp fraud; ‘The first million didn’t trigger any alarms?’
Vida Ofori Causey photo credit ghanacelebrities.com.
Proving just how inept the government can be when it comes to entitlement fraud — and how easily even immigrants can learn to game the American system — one Massachusetts woman was able to single-handedly defraud the government for millions.
Vida Ofori Causey, an immigrant from Ghana, who owns a convenience store owner in the city of Worcester, pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to defrauding the food stamp program to the tune of more than $3.6 million, the Daily Caller reported.
Causey bought the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from her customers for half of their actual value from 2010 – 2014, according to authorities.
“Causey purchased the benefits at a discounted value of approximately fifty cents for every SNAP dollar,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice. “By so doing, Causey caused the USDA to electronically deposit into a bank account controlled by her the full face value of the SNAP benefits fraudulently obtained.”
The transactions provided her customers with cash so they were able to purchase items that would normally be restricted by the SNAP program, which is run by local and federal agencies and overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Social media users were astounded by the case, which garnered Causey an angry news item on Ghanacelebrities.com.
One asked the obvious question: “The first million didn’t trigger any alarms?”
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