An American business owner has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP) of over $2 million.

Victor Madera, 67, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was sentenced on Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton federal court.

He previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to defraud SNAP and one count of engaging in SNAP benefits fraud.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Mr Madera owned a medium-sized grocery store in East Orange, New Jersey and was an authorised participant in SNAP.  

SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp programme, is a U.S. Department of Agriculture programme that uses federal tax dollars to subsidise low-income households, enabling them to maintain a more nutritious diet by increasing their purchasing power for eligible food products.

Between May 2017 and November 2024, employees at Mr Madera’s business illegally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash.

The employees entered inflated dollar amounts for allegedly eligible SNAP transactions and provided SNAP recipients a percentage of the transaction’s value in cash, keeping the remainder.

As a result of this conduct, Mr Madera received SNAP redemptions far in excess of the true value of food and other SNAP-eligible items actually received by SNAP recipients.

Mr Madera, through his business, unlawfully exchanged more than $2.2 million in SNAP benefits for cash.

In addition to the prison term, the judge sentenced Mr Madera to one year of supervised release and ordered him to pay over $2.2 million in restitution and forfeiture.