Manjit Bedi pleaded not guilty in a Tacoma federal courtroom on April 22. A week later, prosecutors say, he left the country for India. On the night of October 14 he was back in Washington State in the custody of federal agents, with food stamp fraud and wire fraud charges waiting for him.
Bedi, 64, of Kent, owned a small grocery in Tacoma. Prosecutors allege he took at least $600,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the federal program better known as food stamps, between March 2024 and June 2025. He is originally from India, and the FBI lists him as Manjit Singh Bedi. The charges came by indictment, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Cash at 50 cents on the dollar
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington laid out the allegations in an October 15 release. The indictment says Bedi paid SNAP recipients cash for the value on their EBT cards at half price. In the example prosecutors give, a $200 charge to a card put $100 in a recipient’s hand and left the other $100 with the store…