NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS JUL 22 2021
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 20-30013
Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 4:18-cr-06014-SMJ
v.
MEMORANDUM*
ABDIRAHMAN AHMED HASSAN,
Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Washington
Salvador Mendoza, Jr., Presiding
Submitted July 8, 2021**
Seattle, Washington
Before: HAWKINS and IKUTA, Circuit Judges, and CALDWELL,*** District
Judge.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concluded this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
***
The Honorable Karen K. Caldwell, United States District Judge for the
Eastern District of Kentucky, sitting by designation.
Abdirahman Ahmed Hassan appeals from the district court’s judgment
sentencing him to a prison term of eight months after a jury found him guilty of
multiple charges in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain benefits from
the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”).
The goal of SNAP is to help provide nutritional food to low-income families.
Families who receive SNAP benefits receive a specific amount of financial
assistance each month, which is to be used to purchase eligible food items. SNAP
benefits cannot be used for any other purchases, and they cannot be redeemed for
cash. SNAP recipients receive the benefits in the form of a credit on an electronic
benefit transfer (“EBT”) card. Only certain grocery retailers are authorized to accept
the SNAP EBT cards as payment for eligible food items. To become an authorized
retailer, the store owner must complete an application form, by which he or she
promises to prevent violations of SNAP rules.
During the relevant time period, Hassan owned and operated East Africa
Grocery Shop (“EAG”), which became an authorized SNAP retailer in July 2010.
The indictment in this action charged Hassan with allowing SNAP recipients to use
their benefits to buy ineligible food items, obtain cash, and make payments on their
store credit accounts in violation of SNAP rules. A jury found him guilty of 18
counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, one count of illegally obtaining
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SNAP benefits in violation of 7 U.S.C. § 2024(b), and one count of stealing
government property in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 641.
Hassan raises only one issue on appeal. He argues that the district court erred
in permitting a government expert witness to testify that EAG’s monthly average
transaction amount involving SNAP benefits and its monthly dollar volume from
SNAP transactions were multiple times higher than the average monthly transaction
amount and dollar volume of other small groceries in the state authorized to receive
SNAP benefits.
This Court reviews the district court's decision to admit expert testimony for
an abuse of discretion. United States v. Ruvalcaba-Garcia, 923 F.3d 1183, 1188 (9th
Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 1135 (2020). “A district court abuses its discretion
when it bases its decision on an erroneous view of the law or a clearly erroneous
assessment of the facts.” United States v. Morales, 108 F.3d 1031, 1035 (9th Cir.
1997).
Hassan does not dispute the accuracy of the expert’s calculations. Instead, he
argues that the expert’s calculations did not indicate fraudulent activity because the
expert failed to consider factors that would distinguish EAG from the other small
grocery stores in the comparison group, such as the kinds of products EAG sold and
the income of its clientele. The expert did not purport to opine, however, as to the
reason that EAG’s SNAP EBT transaction amount and dollar volume were higher
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than other small grocery stores. He testified only as to the calculations. Hassan was
free to point out to the jury factors that distinguish EAG from the other small grocery
stores, and the jury could consider those factors in assessing the weight of the
expert’s testimony. But the expert’s failure to consider those factors does not render
his testimony as to the calculations inadmissible, and the district court did not abuse
its discretion in permitting the expert to testify.
AFFIRMED.
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