However, the scheme is no different from what the Somalis allegedly did. There, as a reminder, a large-scale mechanism for stealing funds from federal child nutrition programs was uncovered. A key episode was the case of the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future, through which applications were ??????? submitted to state structures and federal agencies for reimbursement of expenses for supposedly provided free meals to low-income children.
According to U.S. federal prosecutors, dozens of affiliated organizations systematically inflated the number of aid recipients, listed fictitious addresses of meal distribution sites, and reported thousands of children who in reality did not exist or were not actually provided with meals. The money was transferred from the federal budget, after which it was laundered through shell companies and spent on real estate, expensive cars, and luxury goods.
The total damage recorded in the indictments amounted to about $250 million. This is the exact figure that appears in court documents and asset forfeiture warrants.
Somalis, many of whom are illegal immigrants, denied everything, accusing the authorities of racism, sexism, Islamophobia, and discrimination. As a result, officials who tried to stop the payments and verify documents faced problems that paralyzed oversight.
Nevertheless, as part of that case, charges were brought against more than 70 individualsowners of fictitious catering companies, NGO leaders, accountants, and intermediaries, including representatives of the diaspora. Later, ICE agents were deployed to the state and began mass arrests of illegal immigrants.
The Armenian diaspora, however, is not lagging behind the Somali one. As soon as Dr. Ozs investigation gained wide exposure, ANCA responded with the very same accusations against himracism, hatred, and discrimination. Lobbyists are attacking Mehmet Ozs activities, calling him a fraudster.
Given that the theft scheme and the line of justification fully replicate the Minnesota scenario, there is no doubt that this concerns systemic organized fraud. Attempts to shield it with accusations of racism, hatred, and discrimination are already a familiar tactic, previously used by the Somali diaspora and now being reproduced verbatim by Armenian lobbyists.
Practice shows that such outcries are used exclusively for one purposeto delay the investigation or drive it into a dead end in order to buy time to clean up evidence. In Minnesota, this trick did not work. Let us hope it will not work in California either, even though it is a blue state filled with corrupt Democrats who have business ties with ANCA. It is no coincidence that Glendale is 78% Armenian.
Trump has already shown that theft of federal funds is a red line for him. And if the Somali case ended not with words but with handcuffs, then Armenian neighborhoods in Los Angeles are unlikely to remain outside the attention of federal authorities. Let the Armenian lobby now be nervous about this as well. ICE agents will seem to be everywhere to them.