The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has added India-born Manjit Singh Bedi to its list of most wanted fraudsters for his alleged involvement in irregularities in the U.S. government’s benefits scheme.
Instead of selling food to participants, Bedi allegedly swiped their Electronic Benefit Transfer cards and gave them cash, keeping half of the proceeds for himself, the FBI said on Thursday (September 4, 2026). The FBI claimed that Bedi, a naturalised U.S. citizen, defrauded the U.S. government of at least $6 lakh between March 2024 and June 2025.
Bedi operated a small grocery store in Tacoma, Washington, and swiped customers’ government benefits cards to give them cash instead of food under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), according to the FBI. “A reward of up to $150,000 is offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction,” the FBI said. However, Bedi soon drove across the border to Canada and then fled to India, the FBI said.
