A New Jersey man was indicted for allegedly defrauding three food truck vendors out of thousands of dollars by falsely claiming he could get them licenses issued by New York City, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Monday.
Mohamed Orabi, 33, of Jersey City, was charged in New York State Supreme Court with three counts of grand larceny in the third degree, a class D felony.
New York City has about 23,000 street vendors, many of whom work in Queens and Manhattan. According to the Immigration Research Initiative organization, approximately 96% of the city’s street vendors are immigrants, coming from countries such as Mexico, Ecuador, Egypt and Senegal, among others.
New York lawmakers recently overhauled street vending regulations, eliminating criminal charges for most vendors. The reform seeks to streamline the legal process to obtain a license, which is often excessively slow and bureaucratic. The shortage and delay in issuing permits has fueled, in part, a black market and scams related to the illegal sale or transfer of licenses.
According to court documents, Orabi stole more than $50,000 from at least two food truck vendors and one cart vendor by falsely claiming he could rent city-issued permits from them. He allegedly told them he could lease permits in his name or help them obtain one from another vendor.
In exchange, the defendant demanded thousands of dollars in cash, which the victims gave him. Then, he told them that “they would receive their permits after their food truck or cart passed a prior municipal inspection,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Court documents indicate that Orabi delayed the delivery of the supposed permits by making excuses as to why the inspections had not yet been carried out. None of the victims received the promised permits. According to the prosecutor, Orabi did not even have a permit issued by the city in his name.
As part of the scam, prosecutors said the defendant managed to convince a victim to pay him “thousands of dollars” to obtain insurance or settle alleged fines that he claimed he owed to the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.
The investigation determined that the victim did not owe any fine. To continue the fraud, Orabi also asked the victim for debit card information for alleged vehicle modifications; He then used that data to place sports bets totaling $10,000.
“The New Yorkers were building their businesses as food vendors when Mohamed Orabi allegedly took advantage of their limited knowledge of local regulations to defraud them out of thousands of dollars,” Bragg said.
The prosecutor added that the investigation continues and urged other possible victims to come forward.
“Please call the hotline of the Immigration Affairs Unit of our office at 212-335-3600 or via WhatsApp at 347-371-0877,” he indicated. “Interpreters are available to assist non-native English speakers, and we encourage everyone to communicate regardless of their immigration status.”
