Florida CFO's Investigators Arrest Man Accused of $2.88M SNAP Fraud Scheme

Florida's Chief Financial Officer says his investigators have arrested a man accused of stealing nearly $3 million from a federal food assistance program meant to help struggling families put food on the table — money that could have fed thousands of households across the state, including on the Treasure Coast.

Abbas Rehman was arrested April 30 on charges of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and criminal use of personal identification information. Investigators with the Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division allege Rehman submitted fraudulent merchant applications, manipulated bank deposit information and stole the business identities of four USDA-authorized SNAP retailers to siphon $2.88 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

CFO Blaise Ingoglia announced the arrest Wednesday. "SNAP benefits are intended to help vulnerable Floridians when they need it most, not to be exploited for profits by criminals," Ingoglia said in a news release. "This criminal tried to steal from the hardworking families who rely on these benefits to put food on the table."

CID's Bureau of Public Assistance Fraud investigators tracked Rehman after he allegedly used multiple fake identifications to apply for and obtain SNAP funding, officials said.

No connection to a Treasure Coast recipient or vendor has been confirmed in the public record. Whether any of the four stolen USDA retailer identities belong to businesses operating in Martin, St. Lucie or Indian River counties remains unclear; the Sentinel is seeking records from the Department of Financial Services.

The Rehman case is part of a broader enforcement push by Ingoglia's office. In April, CID arrested Francisco Javier Chaparro-Araus on charges of misappropriating $700,000 in insurance settlements from 13 Hurricane Ian victims in Broward County. In February, investigators charged six state employees with filing roughly $1.7 million in fraudulent property damage claims through Florida's Division of Risk Management.

The pattern of cases signals an escalating statewide fraud enforcement effort and raises the question of how much public assistance money has been quietly drained from programs that Treasure Coast families depend on.

Rehman's case is pending in the court system; no arraignment date has been publicly confirmed. The Sentinel will report further if a Treasure Coast nexus is established through agency records or court filings.

This article was generated with AI assistance using publicly available information. It was reviewed and approved by a human editor before publication. TC Sentinel uses AI writing tools in accordance with FTC guidelines.