SNAP recipients sue USDA over reimbursement of stolen funds

A new class action lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of New York residents who had their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits stolen in hopes of getting them reimbursed.

The lawsuit, which was filed by The Legal Aid Society and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP, seeks to restore benefits that were electronically stolen to about 8,800 SNAP enrollees in New York. The lawsuit is against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), who the plaintiffs allege refused to allow New York to use federal funds to replace the benefits electronically stolen, according to a Legal Aid Society press release.

As of December 2022, there were about 2.8 million people in New York who used the SNAP program, according to state data. SNAP benefits are electronically transferred onto an electronic benefits transfer card, which enrollees can use like a debit card to purchase eligible food in accepted retailers, according to the federal benefits website.

The press release published Wednesday said that the USDA’s alleged refusal to allow New York to disperse federal funds is dependent on a regulation the USDA enacted in 2010 that prohibit states from having the authority to replace SNAP benefits in the case of “skimming” incidents, which is a kind of electronic theft.

“Our clients and all low-income New Yorkers who rely on SNAP benefits to feed themselves and their families are suffering tremendously and must be immediately reimbursed for their stolen benefits, which they lost through no fault of their own,” Alex MacDougall, an attorney for The Legal Aid Society, said in a statement.

“It is unacceptable that the USDA is essentially passing the buck and not taking responsibility for reimbursing victims of skimming, despite legal mandates that protect other forms of electronic theft and the agency’s responsibility to ensure that benefits systems are protected,” she added.

The Hill has reached out to the USDA about the filing.