Justice Dept. hasn’t brought charges against Halal market despite damning affidavit detailing food stamp scam.
A team of federal agents earlier this year raided a small grocery store in Portland, Maine, and the home of the establishment’s owner, as part of a probe into allegations of massive fraud against the government, according to recently unsealed documents.
A 52-page affidavit by an FBI agent lays out a mound of evidence pointing to a fraud ring run out of the Ahram Halal Market that’s cheating the government’s food stamp program, the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) welfare program, and committing tax fraud. Investigators peg the fraud at hundreds of thousands of dollars and identified almost $2.7 million that authorities want to seize.
So far, no criminal charges have been filed against the store owner, Ali Ratib Daham — or Ashraf Eldeknawey, alleged in the affidavit to have filed fraudulent tax returns.
“Nothing more has happened, so there’s nothing more I can say,” said Donald Clark, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Portland.
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