Haitian pair busted for allegedly using their mini-stores as fronts for $7M SNAP fraud scheme

Two Haitian men have been accused of using their small Boston-based retail stores as a front for a $7 million food stamp fraud scheme.

The United States Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced charges against 74-year-old Antonio Bonheur and 21-year-old Saul Alisme. Authorities arrested both men on Wednesday and charged them with one count of food stamp fraud, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

'The fraud was shocking and glaring.'

Court documents revealed Bonheur is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Alisme is a Haitian citizen with lawful permanent residence in the U.S.

Bonheur owned Jesula Variety Store, a 150 square-foot retail space, and Alisme owned Saul Mache Mixe Store, a 500 square-foot location. Both establishments were located in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood.

Despite the stores’ small footprints, they redeemed millions of dollars’ worth of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per month. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the redeemed funds outpaced those of a nearby full-service supermarket, which redeems approximately $82,000 per month.

Bonheur was allegedly receiving his own SNAP benefits, which he used to transfer for cash at his store.

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Jesula Variety Store. Image source: United States Attorney’s Office criminal complaint

Despite 70% of the stores’ SNAP transactions exceeding $95, they stocked “little legitimate food inventory,” the attorney’s office found.

“During undercover operations conducted at both businesses over the course of the investigation, SNAP benefits were allegedly trafficked for cash on four occasions from Jesula Variety Store and on two occasions from Saul Mache Mixe Store,” the attorney’s office wrote. “In each instance, the defendants themselves allegedly worked the cash registers and personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.”

Additionally, the stores allegedly sold a donated food product intended for food-insecure children overseas and not authorized for retail sale.

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Saul Mache Mixe Store. Image source: United States Attorney’s Office criminal complaint

“To be certain, these were not supermarkets. They were not full-service grocers. It would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores,” said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley during a Wednesday press conference. “There is no plausible way SNAP-eligible food could have been purchased from these stores for this long. Yet these two stores are alleged to have illicitly trafficked nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits.”

“The fraud was shocking and glaring,” she added.

Foley explained that the investigation also uncovered alleged “financial manipulations.”

“Because the stores had little legitimate inventory, and almost no lawful income, the defendants relied almost entirely on [U.S. Department of Agriculture]-funded SNAP redemptions,” Foley continued. “To conceal their fraud, they used numerous bank accounts to transfer the SNAP benefits around between the accounts they controlled to create the illusion of legitimate business activity.”

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