Anwar Jouda, 51 years old, was arrested on Thursday in St. Lucie County, Florida, accused of allegedly diverting $862,394.95 in funds from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through a sophisticated identity theft scheme operating in Miami-Dade, according to state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.
Authorities indicate that Jouda stole the identity of a victim and that of their authorized business to accept SNAP payments—identified as a Kwik Stop store in Miami—without the knowledge or consent of its owners.
With that information, the defendant allegedly submitted fraudulent merchant account applications, forged documents, and altered banking information to redirect the program's electronic deposits into their personal and business accounts.
Part of that money was transferred abroad: authorities determined that Jouda allegedly sent a portion of the funds via bank transfers to Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The Criminal Investigations Division of the Florida Department of Financial Services is sharing that information with federal law enforcement partners.
The Miami-Dade state attorney, Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, described the scheme as "well organized, well planned, and well executed" and warned that it "literally took food out of the mouths of needy families and children."
"The alleged transfer of a portion of these stolen funds from the SNAP program outside the country is an even greater insult to those who legitimately need this assistance," he emphasized.
Jouda faces three charges: first-degree grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and criminal use of personal identification information. A judge has set his bail at $20,000.
"If you try to steal from taxpayers, I can guarantee that the law will catch up with you and you will face the consequences of your crimes," warned the CFO, Ingoglia. "Fraud against public assistance will not be tolerated in Florida, which is why my investigators pursue these scammers on a daily basis."
This type of fraud is particularly difficult to detect because it does not directly affect the beneficiaries of the program, but rather the authorized business.
The criminal creates parallel merchant accounts using the information from the legitimate establishment and diverts SNAP deposits without the owner receiving any notification of the transactions. The victimized business may remain unaware of the theft for months while its authorization with the federal Department of Agriculture is compromised.
This mechanism is different from the theft of EBT cards —which harms beneficiaries— and poses a direct threat to the owners of bodegas, markets, and food stores that operate as authorized businesses.
In Miami-Dade, many of those businesses are owned by Cubans, who also have a significant presence among the beneficiaries of the program: those classified as "Cuban/Haitian Entrants" can access SNAP without the five-year waiting period that applies to other permanent residents.
The case is part of a sustained campaign by CFO Ingoglia against public assistance fraud in Florida. In May, he announced the arrest of Abbas Rehman for a SNAP fraud scheme totaling nearly $2.9 million, carried out through the identity theft of authorized merchants.
Months later, a federal grand jury indicted four individuals for a SNAP fraud of over 19 million dollars in Miami-Dade and Broward that allegedly operated for nearly seven years.
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