The feds recently accused a father-and-son pair who owns several Fort Smith convenience stores of running an elaborate food stamp fraud that involved 94 beneficiaries.
Raja Zaman and his son, Haroon Zaman, haven’t been charged with a crime, but the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith seized their 2002 Dodge Ram, 2007 Acura and 2010 Acura and sued to have the property forfeited.
The U.S. attorney’s office said it couldn’t confirm or deny that a criminal investigation was pending against the Zamans. It also wouldn’t comment on the civil lawsuit, which was filed in May.
In the lawsuit, however, Lee Stovall, a special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigative Division, spelled out the allegations that led to the vehicle seizures.
The Zamans own the convenience stores Fenny’s, Park Mini Mart and a Valero in Fort Smith, which take Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. As you know, SNAP was previously known as the Food Stamp Program.
In an interview with federal agents in January, Raja Zaman “admitted to helping ‘poor people’ that come in and ask to sell some of their SNAP benefits,” Stovall wrote in the report.
Zaman said he would pay people $60 for $100 worth of SNAP benefits. He then would use the SNAP cards at other stores to buy groceries, which would then be used as inventory in his convenience stores.
Haroon Zaman also “admitted to directing SNAP cardholders to purchase specified store product in exchange for cash” that equaled about half of the cost of the groceries, the report said.
The alleged scheme went on from July 2013 through May 2016, but the report didn’t reveal the total amount of money that was generated as a result of the alleged money laundering scheme.
The vehicles were seized because they were used to transport the groceries, Stovall wrote.
As of Thursday, the Zamans haven’t responded to the lawsuit. They couldn’t be reached for comment.
Sign up for Daily E-news
