Thousands of food stamp recipients have been cruising to the grocery store in Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Porsches and other extravagant cars, according to new data.
That is in just one unidentified, Republican-led state.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who hasn’t identified the state, said scrutiny of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, has uncovered thousands of people receiving benefits in a single state who are also driving Bentleys and Teslas.
The stunning car inventory was uncovered by the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative think tank, using state government data provided to the USDA.
Researchers at the foundation analyzed 2023 food stamp data from an anonymous state to determine whether recipients met residency requirements and to examine other program integrity data.
They also searched recipient data for luxury vehicle purchases, Hayden Dublois, one of the report’s authors, told The Washington Times.
The Foundation for Government Accountability analysis found that 14,000 luxury vehicles were linked to food stamp enrollees.
The analysis provided a handful of specific examples. A 2020 Rolls-Royce valued at $346,000 was owned by a university professor collecting food stamps.
Another SNAP recipient, identified as a “celebrity barber,” drove a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán LP580-2 Spyder valued at $220,000.
A professional football player collecting SNAP benefits owned a 2022 BMW M760i valued at $158,000, the analysis found.
The eye-popping inventory of luxe cars tied to food stamp recipients includes:
• Three Bentleys.
• 3,636 Lexuses.
• 1,914 BMWs.
• 1,131 Cadillacs.
• Three Ferraris.
• 11 Lamborghinis.
• 59 Maseratis.
• 141 Porsches.
• 59 Jaguars.
• 244 Alfa Romeos.
• 306 Land Rovers.
• 2,098 Teslas.
Many of the vehicles listed were recently manufactured and are among the most expensive in the nation.
A Lamborghini costs more than $680,000, and a Ferrari can top $600,000. Bentleys are priced at $250,000 to $414,000. Maseratis start at $65,000 but can cost more than $200,000. The price tag for a Porsche ranges from $65,000 to more than $280,000.
“And this is just in one state. We need to defend our nutrition programs for those most in need, not for scammers gaming the system,” Ms. Rollins said.
She announced this week that 4.3 million Americans had been moved off SNAP under President Trump, a decrease she partly attributed to the USDA’s success in cutting fraud.
According to USDA data, 38.5 million people received SNAP benefits this January, down from 42.8 million in January 2025.
In July 2025, Mr. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut taxes and reined in social welfare benefits. A provision in the bill expanded work requirements for some SNAP beneficiaries, which likely pushed some working-age adults out of the program.
Separate from the Foundation for Government Accountability analysis, the USDA, in an effort to end SNAP fraud, has asked states to provide comprehensive data on benefit recipients, including their dates of birth, Social Security numbers and immigration status.
A preliminary review of the data by the USDA found, among other irregularities, more than 300,000 instances of potentially deceased individuals enrolled in SNAP.
So far, 29 states, most of them Republican-led, have complied and turned over data. The rest, all Democratic-led states, including California and New York, have blocked the USDA from accessing the data, citing privacy concerns.
The analysts at the Foundation for Government Accountability found that luxury vehicle owners and wealthy people were able to sign up for food stamps through a loophole in many states called Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility.
The loophole expands SNAP eligibility to anyone, regardless of income or assets, if they use welfare brochures or toll-free hotlines that are deemed “non-cash benefits” associated with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a separate form of social welfare assistance.
“Under this scheme, states use TANF dollars to print a pamphlet or set up a hotline with information about welfare benefits. They then deem these offerings a TANF ’benefit,’ which makes anyone receiving the welfare brochure or hotline number ’categorically eligible’ for food stamps,” Foundation for Government Accountability researchers Ali Fick and Liesel Crocker reported in March.
The USDA reported that 43 states and the District of Columbia expanded food stamp eligibility through Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility.
The Clinton administration launched Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility to avoid duplicate verification of food stamp benefits for recipients enrolled in TANF, which has strict asset and income limits, and later added the pamphlet-and-hotline loophole that lets just about anyone escape asset and income scrutiny. The Obama administration further expanded broad-based categorical eligibility by encouraging states to use the brochures and hotlines to automatically qualify households for food assistance while bypassing asset and income checks.
The Trump administration is now seeking to tighten eligibility requirements. Administration officials have submitted revisions to the rule to ensure “categorical eligibility is extended only to households that have sufficiently demonstrated eligibility by qualifying for ongoing and substantial benefits from TANF-funded programs designed to assist households and move them towards self-sufficiency.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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