DOJ announces western WA food stamp fraud arrest — Full press conference

[0:00] A man who fled Western Washington after being indicted in a federal food stamp fraud case [0:05] is now back in custody. Thanks for joining us on the King 5 app. I'm Christine Paye. [0:10] Right now, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies are holding a news conference [0:13] to discuss the defendant's return and the ongoing investigation. This is happening [0:18] at the U.S. Attorney's Office in downtown Seattle. Let's now listen in. [0:22] ... those who commit fraud against the American people, and they've done some great work since [0:27] then. As alleged in the indictment, Mr. Betty ran a small grocery store, and on February [0:33] of 2024, his grocery store was approved to accept food stamps, what we call SNAP, which [0:42] is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through the store. And then within a month, [0:50] beginning of March of 2024, and through June of 2025, he engaged in fraudulent activity [0:57] by processing SNAP cards for his own personal benefit, amounting to about $600,000 of taxpayer [1:06] money that would normally go towards people that are the most needy in our communities. [1:13] We have received some immigration-related inquiries about this, about the status of Mr. Betty, [1:18] and I want to explain that to put that in context. It's not related to the elements of the crime, [1:23] or in this case, but it is relevant to put this in context, that in March of 2010, Mr. Betty was [1:31] admitted to the United States on a visitor visa. And then in 2016, he was approved for as lawful [1:36] permanent resident status through an application by his son. And then in April of 2022, he filed [1:44] an application to become a United States citizen. And then the fraud began in March of 2024. [1:51] Then in January of 2025, he was approved and was granted citizenship. So he is a United States [1:58] citizen, but he was actually committing the fraud at the time that he was applying for citizenship in [2:04] the United States. Once he was granted citizenship, he continued the fraud until June of 2025. He was, [2:13] as I indicated earlier, he was charged in this case through indictment on April the 1st. And then on April [2:18] the 22nd, he made his initial appearance in court. Four days later, on April the 26th, Mr. Betty fled the [2:25] country, went up to Canada, and then went back to India. However, based on the great work of the FBI, [2:32] he was returned to Seattle to face justice last night. Also coincidentally, today, Vice President [2:40] Vance signed a pledge to ensure that fraudsters face justice for their crimes. The Vice President [2:47] asked the U.S. attorneys across the country to sign the pledge, and I am committed to doing that, [2:51] and will do so. I'm happy to do that. This is just the type of case that the Vice President was [2:58] referencing to, and it's the type of case that my office will be continually committed [3:03] to root out here in the Western District of Washington. I'm pleased to be joined today by [3:09] Mike Harrington from the FBI, and also from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Inspector General [3:15] John Walk, and I'll turn it over to him for some comments. Thank you, First Assistant United [3:27] States Attorney Floyd. As Inspector General of the United States Department of Agriculture, [3:32] I'm proud to stand with you to announce the successful capture and return of Manjeet Sin [3:37] Betty to answer for allegations he defrauded the SNAP program, which is administered by USDA. [3:44] A taxpayer-funded program intended to provide food assistance to low-income Americans. USDA OIG [3:52] and its special agents are proud to be part of the investigation that led to his indictment and [3:58] landed this now former fugitive on the FBI's 10 most wanted fraudsters list. This fraudster allegedly [4:06] ran the Asian grocery store in Tacoma, Washington like a money laundering operation that converted [4:12] federal food assistance for the needy into a personal cash dispensary to feed his own greed. By [4:19] trafficking SNAP benefits as alleged, he unlawfully converted benefits meant to provide food to the [4:25] needy into cash and pocketed the money for himself. He stole from Americans who truly needed help. After [4:33] being caught, instead of appearing in court to answer for his conduct, the fraudster fled to his home [4:39] country, India, in hopes of evading justice. But under the leadership of Vice President J.D. Vance and the [4:46] White House Task Force to eliminate fraud, USDA OIG is resolute to stand with our partners across [4:52] government to pursue fraudsters wherever they may run. And now Mr. Betty is in custody to face justice. [5:00] I commend the FBI for its foresight to establish its new most wanted fraudsters list to help gather [5:07] information from the public that could help locate fraud suspects and lead to their arrests. Mr. Betty's [5:14] placement on that list helped lead to his capture. In alignment with the White House Task Force on [5:20] fraud, we are laser focused on locating fraudsters and bringing them to justice. I applaud the work of [5:27] the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, USDA OIG Special Agent Enforcement Division, and all of our partners who [5:35] investigated the alleged crime and helped to secure the return of Mr. Betty to face justice clear. If you [5:42] steal the compassion of American tax programs, use the firm hand of American justice, there is no place [5:54] the long arm of the law will not reach you. Thank you. Thank you, Inspector General. Good afternoon. [6:04] I'm Mike Harrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Seattle Field Office. I'm honored to be here [6:09] today with Acting U.S. Attorney Floyd and Inspector General Walk from the U.S. Department of Agriculture [6:15] to announce the successful return to the United States of one of the FBI's most wanted fraudsters, [6:20] Anjeet Betty. The FBI launched the most wanted fraudsters list on June 4th with eight individuals [6:27] on the list. This is a new addition to our most wanted lists, one dedicated to seeking the public's [6:33] assistance and locating individuals charged with defrauding the American people. Since then, [6:39] 18 people have been added in total and six have been captured. Currently, as of October 14th, [6:46] their 12 individuals on the list has added two individuals to the list just in the past couple [6:55] of days. Betty was named to the list on September 3rd, joining a cadre of the nation's most wanted [7:01] advantage of a federal program designed to help the nation's least fortunate, redirecting funds meant [7:10] to benefit them for his own personal gain. After the scheme caught up with him and he was indicted for [7:16] wire fraud in April of this year, Betty fled to India to avoid facing the consequences of his actions. [7:23] Our most wanted fraudster poster was launched in three languages, as you can see over there, [7:29] English, Hindi, and Punjabi, and was shared with the media in India as well as in the United States. [7:35] On that note, I would like to highlight for a moment the power of the FBI's investigative [7:39] publicity program. There's not a place in the world where the FBI's wanted posters cannot reach, [7:44] and Betty's wanted poster quickly reached people who were able to report where he was located in India. [7:51] Indian authorities in Punjab state quickly arrested him, and we've been working over the past month to [7:56] return him to the U.S., a process in which the FBI's law enforcement attache office in India, [8:03] Ligat New Delhi, was absolutely instrumental. I will note that this is a very quick return to the United [8:09] States after a fugitive's capture. It often takes much longer than this. So I want to express the FBI's [8:15] sincere appreciation for the partnership of the Indian authorities every step of the way. [8:20] So now, yesterday, thanks to tips from the public and the hard work of our international law enforcement [8:28] partners, Betty, a naturalized U.S. citizen, arrived back in the state of Washington after being deported [8:35] from India to face the charges he fled from back in April. I commend the dedication of agents from FBI [8:41] Seattle, who escorted Betty halfway around the world through 25 hours of travel back to Seattle. [8:47] On the morning of October 14th, Betty landed on U.S. soil in New York, where he was taken into FBI [8:53] custody. Betty and the FBI died here in Seattle, and Betty was transported to the Federal Detention [9:00] Center into Cocaine until his initial appearance tomorrow. There are three points I'd like to give. [9:09] First, benefits fraud is not a victimless crime, [9:12] and law enforcement will notice and pursue offenders. Defrauding this program, or SNAP, [9:19] is stealing from both the American people and the vulnerable community in Washington state. [9:29] Second, if you think you can flee beyond the borders of the United States to avoid our justice system, [9:34] you are wrong, as Mr. Betty discovered. And third, we hope this case sends a message to those who [9:41] are considering helping someone commit a crime. There could be charges for conspirators who assisted his [9:47] scheme, or his flight from justice, as well. No matter how far somebody may flee, and no matter [9:53] how long it may take, the FBI is committed to pursuing those who attempt to outrun the consequences [9:59] of their criminal actions, even when they seek to evade the justice system by hiding overseas. [10:05] Thank you, and we'll now take your questions. [10:12] Do you want me to take that one? That is essentially what we found, is that people would come into the store, [10:26] they would run the card, and then he would take the cash amount. Some of that would go to the individual [10:31] with the card, and some of it he would keep. We know what the recipients were using those proceeds for, [10:37] like were they going to need drugs, or was there any pattern in what they were using the money for, [10:42] and are they facing consequences? Right, we don't have any information we can share on that. [10:48] Investigation, for the most part, was focused on Mr. Betty and the fraud itself. [10:52] I can talk a little bit about that. You can absolutely do that. [10:55] So, and not necessarily talking about the facts of this case, but essentially this is what we call a [11:02] trafficking situation with SNAP benefits. The SNAP benefits are put into an EBT card. It's like a [11:12] credit card. You have a magnetic strip, and the money is loaded down. The benefits are loaded [11:18] every month for recipients, so it's very likely that these were legitimate recipients that went into the [11:29] store. And so, when they traffic for cash, what they'll do is they'll present their card. They'll [11:37] say, hey, look, I've got $250 on this card. You give me $125 in cash, you can keep the rest. And so, [11:44] then they split the profits. So, these could have been legitimate recipients. Sometimes they're stolen [11:54] cars that are used to traffic. Again, I'm not speaking to this particular case, but that has [12:00] been a very, one of the major schemes we've been dealing with. And the retail stores will generally [12:08] do that in volume, so that they are able to aggregate the money and the losses. And I will [12:15] say to point out that when we, even if it's a legitimate recipient who uses their card for that [12:22] purpose, we want to remember that SNAP is given out on a household basis. So, it's more than likely [12:31] that the adult may be using the money to traffic. Money on that card or the benefits were meant for [12:39] that entire family, so for the children as well. And so, we find that oftentimes it's going to be the [12:45] children and the others in the household that will suffer when a trafficking situation takes place. [12:52] Thanks. Jeremy, just one thing, just to bring it to the local community. What we know, [13:01] and is that these EBT cards are being basically used like a commodity. They bring cash into high [13:08] crime areas where they would not otherwise have cash. They were intended to be used for obviously [13:15] very specific items of food, and now you can't get what you want in the drug trade or guns or [13:24] whatever, unless you've got cash. So, they're basically turning it into cash. [13:28] So, keep in mind that, like I indicated earlier, this store was approved to be able to process SNAP [13:36] benefits in February of 2024. The fraud started in March. It took a month or less. And that's the [13:44] period that we know about. So, when someone asks for the opportunity to be able to process SNAP benefits, [13:51] they've already got in mind that they're going to be committing the fraud because that's what the [13:54] commodity is in these high crime areas. So, to the extent that we can root it out, we'll be helping [14:00] solve some of the more systemic and larger problems here in Seattle area of driving out the gangs, [14:09] the association, the crime, the violence that goes along with actually trading this commodity. So, [14:14] there's a lot more to be done in this area. This is the beginning of it, and we're looking forward to [14:20] doing a lot more. Anybody else? All right then. Thank you guys. [14:27] Thank you. [14:28] Thank you. [14:29] Thank you.