A New Brunswick man will spend more than two years in federal prison after running his grocery store as a front for a $2.2 million food stamp cash-out scheme.
Victor Madera owned a midsize grocery store in East Orange authorized to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. For seven years—from May 2017 through November 2024—he ran a simple but lucrative con that saw his employees ring up inflated SNAP transactions, hand customers back a cut of the money in cash, and pocket the difference.
It’s illegal to exchange SNAP benefits for cash under any circumstances. The markup meant Madera’s store collected far more in federal reimbursements than the food was actually worth, according to U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer…