The alleged crooks behind a massive scheme to defraud the Women, Infants and Children program for poor mothers and children concocted a brazen version of the WIC acronym for their malfeasance, according to prosecutors: “We In Control”.
U.S. attorneys indicted 88 people in the scheme, which set up bogus storefronts in metro Atlanta and other Georgia locations to pocket $18 million worth of food benefits intended for the poor.
The indictments, unsealed Tuesday, are the latest indication of fraud in Georgia’s benefits programs, and come as the state faces ongoing problems with its administration of both WIC and the much larger federal food stamp program.
Georgia must reimburse federal officials at least $2 million over the next four years for chronic mismanagement of the WIC program that resulted in huge over payments to some stores accepting WIC vouchers, according to new records reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday.
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