A Chicago man has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for his role in a scheme that defrauded the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Hassan Abdellatif, 37, owned several convenience stores in the Chicago area and was found guilty by a federal jury last year on five counts, including wire fraud and failing to file corporate tax returns.
According to court records, Abdellatif worked with eight other store owners or employees between 2010 and 2018 to illegally redeem WIC checks. The WIC program is federally funded and provides nutrition assistance to low-income women and children. Prosecutors said Abdellatif’s stores accepted WIC checks as payment for items not eligible under the program guidelines, often at inflated prices. In total, ten stores involved in the scheme redeemed more than $19 million in WIC checks.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso ordered Abdellatif to pay over $8.8 million in restitution to the government.
Eight other individuals charged as part of this investigation have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
The announcement was made by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office; Shantel R. Robinson from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General; and Adam Jobes from IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kartik K. Raman and Rick Young represented the government.
“Hassan Abdellatif and his co-schemers engaged in conduct that was extremely serious, complex, and wide-ranging in scope,” AUSA Raman argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Vulnerable communities are impacted when individuals steal from those programs.”
