Besmulla Yaqoobi, 45, of Salt Lake City, has been charged by the Utah Attorney General’s office over a Taylorsville market accused of trading cash for SNAP benefits. The Justice Department’s October 21 announcement puts the case at $5,994.89 in intended loss, the smallest of the ten cases it summarizes. Yaqoobi has not been convicted, and the charge is an allegation.
What Sahara Market is accused of doing
In 2022, the department says, Yaqoobi co-owned Sahara Market in Taylorsville, Utah. A co-owner signed a federal contract to accept SNAP, and the contract stated that trading cash for SNAP benefits was prohibited. USDA’s inspector general opened a joint investigation with the Taylorsville Police Department in 2023.
Surveillance from January to April 2024 showed 15 to 20 people entering the market, making large EBT transactions and leaving soon afterward with little or no items. The department says those transactions totaled $5,429.89. Similar transactions followed on July 8 and August 8, 2024, with no amounts given…