Men Sentenced For Food Stamp Fraud

ALBANY, NEW YORK – FAISAL Q. MORSHED, 35, of Verplanck, New York, and IBRAHIM Q. MURSHED, 25, of Hudson, New York, were sentenced yesterday for conspiring to commit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") fraud, and SNAP fraud, by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian, Columbia County Sheriff David Bartlett, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Inspector General, Northeast Region Special Agent in Charge William G. Squires, Jr., and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas DiNicola.

FAISAL MORSHED was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release. The court ordered that he pay $247,736 restitution to the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("USDA").

IBRAHIM MURSHED was sentenced to five years of probation. The court ordered that he pay $26,134 restitution to USDA.

As part of their December 3, 2014, guilty pleas, MORSHED and MURSHED admitted that, while working at D&D Deli & Grocery, in Hudson, New York, they conspired to exchange SNAP beneficiaries’ food stamps for cash.

SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, uses tax dollars to subsidize food purchases by eligible low-income households. SNAP benefits may only be used to purchase food in approved retail food stores, and may not be exchanged for cash.

A jury convicted coconspirators MOFADDAL M. MURSHED and AHMED A. ALGAHAIM of conspiracy to commit SNAP fraud and SNAP fraud on December 16, 2014. They are scheduled to be sentenced on June 8, 2015, in Albany.

The case was investigated by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey C. Coffman.