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Brothers Sentenced In Portland Welfare Fraud Case

Three years in jail and $1.4 million in restitution: that's Ali Ratib Daham's sentence for a welfare fraud scheme he ran from a Portland halal market, according to a press release from U.S. District Attorney Halsey Frank.

U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby imposed the sentence, saying that Daham's actions caused distrust of government welfare programs and may lead to prejudice against welfare recipients and immigrants.

Daham's younger brother, Abdulkareem, Daham was also sentenced in the conspiracy, receiving a two-year jail sentence and an order to pay $950,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors say that as part of the scam, the brothers allowed customers to exchange food stamps and other government benefits for cash and ineligible goods.

A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.