Eight suspects have been indicted for conspiring to allegedly steal more than $7 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds.
Prosecutors used photographic evidence obtained in the case to allege that the suspects were operating a type of “fraud factory” from the back room of a Yonkers deli and from hotels.
As a result, thousands of low-income New Yorkers who depend on government assistance were deprived of the ability to buy food or secure reimbursement between April 2023 and September 2025, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Statewide statistics show that an average of nearly 3 million people, or about 15 percent of New York’s population, received monthly SNAP benefits in 2025.
Court documents allege that defendants used merchant processing accounts, bank accounts, and point-of-sale (POS) machines to process Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) transactions.
“This conspiracy created fraudulent merchant processing accounts for fraudulent delis and paid themselves by repeatedly swiping stolen EBT cards at point-of-sale systems associated with those accounts,” Bragg said.
The stolen proceeds were subsequently laundered in Yemen and elsewhere internationally and spent on domestic luxury vehicles, according to prosecutors.
Defendants Belal Hauter, Milton Rios, Yvette Rivera, Gregory Fabiani and Abdulla Aeza are charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, as well as various counts of Grand Larceny and Identity Theft.
Hauter is accused of opening and leading co-defendants Rios and Rivera to open fraudulent merchant processing accounts as well as bank accounts, while Fabiani and Aeza are accused of providing technical back-end support for the POS machines.
However, the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The charges in the indictment are allegations.
“SNAP and EBT fraud harms New Yorkers in need of assistance and the New Yorkers whose tax dollars fund these essential programs,” Bragg added.
Next year, the state government is expected to unveil a more secure EBT system of operation.
A public report issued by the Department of Investigation (DOI) in 2025 on the threat posed to public resources by this kind of alleged fraud supports the transition to chip-enabled EBT cards.
“These defendants allegedly stole information from Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and opened numerous accounts in the name of real and fictitious delis in order to gain access to merchant accounts,” DOI commissioner Nadia Shihata said. “These alleged crimes not only resulted in the pilfering of public funds from a critical City-administered food program, but also left vulnerable New Yorkers without essential benefits to purchase groceries.”
