Minara Helan: Two Boston convenience store owners are facing federal charges in connection with a scheme that prosecutors say involved more than $7 million in fraudulent SNAP benefits.
Saul Alisme, owner of the Saul Macho Store, and Antonio Bonheur, owner of the Jesula Variety Store, are accused of exchanging SNAP benefits for cash. At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Leah Foley, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said the two businesses operated out of a shared storefront in Mattapan. Foley said the two stores redeemed far more SNAP benefits than their limited inventory could reasonably support.
“These were not supermarkets,” Foley said. “It would be a huge stretch to even call them convenience stores.”
Foley said one of the stores measured less than 150 square feet in size and had “no carriages, no hand baskets and very little food.”
According to Foley, investigators found that the stores’ financial records did not show the types of wholesale food purchases expected of legitimate grocery operations. Instead, prosecutors said the accounts showed cash transactions and internal transfers used to launder SNAP benefits.
Foley also said undercover officers went into the stores and were able to exchange SNAP benefits for cash with no questions asked. “These men abused one of the government’s most critical safety net programs for their own financial gain,” Foley said. “This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves.”
Foley was appointed U.S. attorney for Massachusetts in January. SNAP benefits were at the forefront of October’s government shutdown, as President Donald Trump directed states to halt funding for the program. Court battles ensued in several states.
When a federal funding bill was passed on Nov. 12, SNAP payments resumed.
Foley said the two store owners “did little legitimate business,” while using multiple bank accounts to create the illusion of business activity.
According to Foley, the men had been operating the scheme since 2022, and at one point their transactions exceeded more than $500,000 in a single month.
The investigation was run by the FBI and the USDA, with assistance from the Boston Police Department, Foley said.
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