Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday announced criminal charges against 40 people in connection with more than $40 million in alleged fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federally funded program that helps low-income households buy groceries. The charges were announced by the anti-fraud task force Vance leads, which was created in February, according to The Center Square and Fox News reporting.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration has uncovered $42 million in SNAP fraud over the last year. He described the case of a woman with two children who was allegedly unable to buy food because funds in her SNAP account had been depleted by fraud actors, and argued the stolen money could have fed many more families. Vance said: “We have way too much fraud in the SNAP program.”

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said federal prosecutors in Southern Ohio had returned an indictment against two individuals over an alleged loss of $29.7 million — yaani roughly 3 crore dollars. He alleged the two men generated thousands of fake food purchases using SNAP funds, and said they were charged and arrested in Chicago on Wednesday morning. One other defendant highlighted by Vance allegedly committed $4.4 million in fraud. These are allegations set out by prosecutors; they have not been proven in court.

Fox News reported that the latest cases bring the total SNAP fraud the task force says it has uncovered to $641 million. More than 1,000 retailers have been banned from the program for violations including criminal trafficking of benefits, while nearly 5,000 others have been suspended and fined a combined $44 million for administrative violations, and officials say more than 2,200 illegal point-of-sale devices have been destroyed.

SNAP benefits are loaded monthly onto an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card that recipients use at authorised retailers. Officials cautioned that criminal charges do not guarantee the government can recover money that has already been spent. For Punjabi and other immigrant families in the United States who rely on food assistance or help relatives who do, the cases are a reminder to check EBT balances regularly and report missing funds immediately.