Feds say Findlay Market vendor bilked the government out of $3.45 million

Update, May 17: Busch lawyer: Findlay store owners didn't commit $3.4M fraud - brother did

Previous reporting: Findlay Market is known for being a foodie's paradise - with premium meats, produce straight from the farm, exotic spices and fresh-baked bread all on sale almost daily.

But the iconic Cincinnati landmark is now possibly something else - the site of one of the largest food stamp fraud operations in Ohio's recent history.

Federal law enforcement officials suspect that the family that runs a Findlay mainstay in Over-the-Rhine also bilked the government out of more than $3.45 million in fake food stamp transactions just since 2010.

That's according to a search warrant and seizure warrants issued last week by the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates such fraud and currency counterfeiting along with protecting high-ranking federal officials such as the president.

In fact, federal agents last week raided Busch's Country Corner, which primarily sells poultry and other meats.

Those agents also asked a federal judge for permission to seize tens of thousands dollars out of the family's bank accounts and five vehicles they say were bought with money fraudulently received from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

According to the documents, Busch’s Country Corner was approved to accept food stamps in 1997. Starting in late 2010, investigators say Michael, Amanda (co-owners and managers) and Randall Busch (an employee and Michael's brother) have “engaged in a continuing pattern” to illegally redeem SNAP benefits.

"USDA records confirm that between October 2010 and March 2018, Busch's Country Corner employees completed in excess of 195,113 individual SNAP EBT transactions, representing a total SNAP redemption value of approximately $5,413,629,” documents said.

The agents allege that 63.7 percent of the vendor's total SNAP electronic benefit transactions (EBT) since 2010 were fraudulent.

The news stunned the Findlay Market community.

"It certainly was a surprise to most when the investigators showed up," said Joe Hansbauer, president and chief operating officer for the Corporation for Findlay Market, which oversees operations at the 163-year old iconic site. "We can't remember anything like this happening in the recent past here."

On Wednesday afternoon, a slow lunch crowd milled through Findlay Market. Busch's Country Corner still had customers, stopping to make purchases despite handwritten "cash only" signs hung up on the counters.

Busch's stays open, but for how long?

The store reopened after last week's raid and stayed open over the weekend and this week.

Owners Amanda Busch, her husband Michael Busch and his brother Randall Busch did not respond to emails seeking comment.

An employee at the booth declined to comment on Wednesday and said that Amanda and Michael Busch were not available.

Busch's Country Corner has been open in Findlay Market since 1997, taking over for another vendor who retired, according to the store's website.

The store's site also says that Michael Busch previously worked in law enforcement.

"All of Mike's brothers work in that field and his grandfather is a retired police officer," the site reads. "For two years Mike worked at a juvenile detention center, doing a little bit of everything that involved a lot of face-to-face time with the kids."

Hansbauer said that since no criminal charges have been filed, the market won't take any action, but "we do reserve the right to take action as soon as it becomes clear that there's a significant impact to customer trust within the market."

Federal agents did not return messages seeking comment.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's office said that the warrants were the only public statements that would be available regarding the case.

How the feds say it worked

Here's how the alleged scheme worked: Individuals on the SNAP program with an EBT card would pretend to make purchases worth up to thousands of dollars, federal agents said.

Then the Buschs would give those customers back about half the charged amount in cash and sometimes a small grocery order and keep the difference from the original charged amount, according to the documents.

Documents state that federal officials used confidential informants and undercover agents to conduct several such transactions with members of the Busch family, who reside in southeastern Indiana.

One such transaction with an informant in December was originally for nearly $1,050. But the customer got $860 in cash back, "a minimal amount of meat product," and the Busch's kept the rest, documents say.

'Shouldn't paint the others negatively'

According to those documents, USDA records indicate that Busch’s County Corner conducted a monthly average of 2,167 individual SNAP transactions using EBT cards.

Similar meat and poultry businesses, some in Findlay Market, averaged only 868 SNAP EBT transactions a month, the documents say.

It is estimated that 63.75 percent of all Busch’s County Store SNAP EBT proceeds were fraudulent, documents said.

"I want to stress that we have more than 50 vendors accepting EBT and that while one is under investigation, that shouldn't paint the others negatively," Hansbauer said.

Federal officials estimate that there is nearly $1 billion in SNAP program fraud/trafficking, up from $330 million in 2008.

An estimated 42.2 million Americans received $68.1 billion in benefits in 2017.