Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts have charged two Haitian immigrants with orchestrating a nearly $7 million food stamp fraud operation, exposing yet another glaring failure in America’s welfare oversight and raising familiar questions about how large-scale schemes thrive inside government programs billed as humanitarian.
According to federal authorities, Antonio Bonheur, a 74-year-old naturalized American citizen from Haiti, and Saul Alisme, a 21-year-old lawful permanent resident, ran two tiny bodegas in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood that bore little resemblance to legitimate grocery stores. Despite sparse shelves and minimal foot traffic, one store alone redeemed up to $500,000 in SNAP benefits in a single month — levels consistent with major supermarkets, not neighborhood corner shops.
Undercover investigators say the stores openly exchanged SNAP benefits for cash, skimmed profits through secondary bank accounts, and even sold liquor and overseas charity food packages meant for starving children abroad — all paid for with taxpayer-funded benefits. Bonheur alone allegedly redeemed $6.8 million starting in 2022.
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley called the case evidence of a serious breakdown in oversight, blasting states like Massachusetts for refusing to share recipient data with federal investigators under the Trump administration’s renewed push to crack down on welfare fraud. Foley warned that fraud is not isolated, but widespread.
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The case echoes an even more massive scandal uncovered in Minnesota, where dozens of individuals — largely from the Somali immigrant community — have been charged in sprawling fraud schemes targeting federally funded child nutrition, Medicaid housing, and autism programs. In that case, prosecutors allege hundreds of millions of dollars were siphoned through fake nonprofits and shell companies. Law enforcement sources have further claimed that some of the stolen funds were routed overseas, including to Al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group — allegations now under federal investigation.
While the alleged Haitian SNAP fraud is far smaller in scale, the pattern is disturbingly similar: small storefronts, minimal services, lax state oversight, and political resistance to federal scrutiny — all enabling fraud networks to thrive.
Together, the cases highlight a systemic problem: massive welfare programs with weak controls, administered by states unwilling to cooperate with enforcement, become magnets for abuse. Meanwhile, taxpayers foot the bill, and legitimate recipients are left under suspicion as politicians and media downplay the scale of the fraud.
As SNAP spending approaches $100 billion annually, these cases raise an unavoidable question: how many more schemes remain hidden — and who is protecting the system that allows them to continue?
