Welfare Fraud: Wife Of Millionaire Lawyer Charged In Virginia
An Arlington, Virginia, woman who allegedly collected $100,000-plus in public assistance, faces charges of felony welfare fraud and document forgery.
This suspect is married to an attorney who was supposedly earning $1.5 million a year in a prestigious D.C. law firm.
“Police say a six-month investigation into Helen Agbapuruonwu, 41, found that the mother of four had collected benefits like food stamps and Medicaid assistance for the past six years,” News4, NBC Washington, reported. “While Helen was collecting benefits, her husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, was earning $1.5 million per year as a lawyer, according to court documents obtained by News4.”
Helen Agbapuruonwu’s lawyer declined News4‘s request to comment on the case. She is due back in court in early April.
Authorities apparently believe that husband, Fidelis Agbapuruonwu, a Nigerian immigrant who came here in 1993, has fled U.S. jurisdiction and may be in Africa. Attorney Agbapuruonwu was the recipient of a Paul and Daisy Soros scholarship to study law at Ohio State University, from which he graduated in 2002. Paul Soros is the older brother of billionaire George Soros who funds many liberal/progressive activist groups.
The Above the Law website points out that $1.5 million is an unusually large pay envelope for a law firm associate (as per the lawyer’s LinkedIn profile).
“Perhaps the $1.5 million was the cumulative total earned over the six-year period in which Helen allegedly collected benefits?”
Stealing from American citizens – you gotta see this!https://t.co/T0faHO7gyY https://t.co/T0faHO7gyY
— HARLAN Z. HILL ?? (@Harlan) March 13, 2017
Commenting on the arrest, a spokeswoman for the Arlington County PD said that “We hope it sends a message that if you are taking public assistance it’s truly intended for those in need, and we’re committed to ensuring those who need the most help receive it.”
In an update, The Dally Caller apparently got in contact with Fidelis Agbapuruonwu’s former law firm for a clarification on his status and his salary.
“Agbapuruonwu worked for the firm for about five years and left in 2011, explained an attorney at Mayer Brown, who spoke with The Daily Caller News Foundation on a condition of anonymity. Associates at the firm do not make $1.5 million in salary, the attorney added.”
As the Inquisitr previously detailed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report in mid-January indicating that 20 percent of food stamp benefits — aka the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — were being used to purchase “junk foods” which include “sweetened beverages, desserts, salty snacks, candy and sugar.” Soft drinks accounted for 5 percent of the overall junk food total or $608 million.
SNAP pays out about $70 billion in benefits every year. Approximately 44 million persons received SNAP benefits last year. The USDA claims that 1.5 percent of the benefits are fraudulently obtained based on a January 2017 audit, The Daily Caller detailed.
Separately, a New York man was arrested by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office on a welfare fraud charge after allegedly pocketing about $36,000 in benefits in a four-and-a-half year period, the Hudson Valley Network reported. The suspect “is accused of stealing the benefits by concealing the fact he had other outside income, something that would have made him ineligible for them, according to authorities.”
In California last week, a Sacramento Valley jury convicted a woman on five welfare-fraud related charges, and she will be sentenced on April 7. According to the Sacramento County District Attorney, the woman “was on public assistance from 2006 through 2010. She did not disclose that she was working as an In-Home Supportive Services provider, which led the Department of Human Services to lose approximately $54,000,” the Sacramento Bee explained.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg with welfare and food stamp fraud…The fact that this woman was able to abuse the welfare system for 6 years undetected is shameful,” the Gateway Pundit claimed about the Arlington, Virginia alleged welfare fraud bust.
[Featured Image by Henryk Sadura/Shutterstock]
