An Atlanta rapper with a penchant for peeing naked from balconies was busted on dozens of fraud charges as part of a Trump administration fraud crackdown to recover nearly $42 million in food stamp funds meant for needy families.
Mercedes New, an influencer, rapper and apparent adult content creator in Atlanta who goes by the name Shawty Dred, for years flaunted his lavish lifestyle on social media by posting photos of trips in private jets, Rolls-Royces and Maybachs.
He also shared pictures of himself on social media counting fat stacks of cash — and even set the bills on fire.
Between January 2020 and July 2026, the 39-year-old rapper allegedly raided state-administered Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding by creating more than 350 fake accounts based on stolen identities with the Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family & Children Services (DFCS).
The flamboyant rapper, who sports blingy necklaces and poses in front of mansions, then allegedly obtained hundreds of fraudulent SNAP EBT debit cards by having them mailed to multiple addresses in the metro Atlanta region.
He later sold them on the streets for cash or used them at his own company, Shawty Dred LLC, after setting it up as a SNAP retailer.
While running what turned out to be a $4.6 million fraud scheme, the social media sensation would take to Instagram or TikTok to taunt his viewers as “broke motherf–kers” while he spent the alleged ill-gotten gains on vacations, clothes and jewelry.
Prosecutors earlier this month indicted New on 46 counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of food stamp fraud, making him one of more than 40 defendants charged by federal prosecutors in recent weeks for defrauding SNAP and related programs.
“Two-hundred twenty thousand Americans could’ve eaten for the entire month of October if it were not for this $42 million in fraud,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “We’ve indicted men and women in 13 different districts just in the past seven weeks, and that effort will continue for as long as it takes.”
Vice President JD Vance and members of the Departments of Justice and Agriculture held a press conference in Cincinnati Wednesday highlighting the case — with US Department of Agriculture Inspector General John Walk quipping, “there’s nothing ‘New’ under the sun.”
“SNAP exists to help hungry children eat; it does not exist to provide private jets to a guy like Shawty Dred,” Vance said. “I understand he called almost 9,000 times and would take benefits that were spread across 350 accounts, collect them to himself, and then enrich himself in the process.”
“Part of what helped us identify Shawty Dred is the guy’s posting Instagram videos, and we’re able to connect the money that he’s making with the money that he’s then using to go and buy seats on private jets and all these other things,” he said.
New, who has more than 2 million Instagram followers and boasts on the profile about having more “Jewelry” and “Rolls-Royce’s than your favorite rapper,” was previously arrested in 2022 for urinating off his apartment balcony while completely naked.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor public indecency charge in 2024 and was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
“I’m famous! I’m on TV, bruh,” New reportedly told cops as he was arrested four years ago, maintaining his innocence, according to Channel 2 Action News. “Neighbors said it was so bad, they thought about using an umbrella when they walked along the sidewalk,” the outlet noted.
Local police in Georgia had also arrested New last November outside of a Walmart for selling the SNAP EBT debit cards to passersby.
In a 2021 interview with the outlet Hip Hop Since 1987, he boasted about Shawty Dred LLC taking in so much cash that he had plans “to open a total of three restaurants and one strip club in Atlanta, Georgia under my brands.”
Asked about his other future plans, the rapper said he anticipated “World domination lol” and “Having $100 million in my bank account.”
The USDA’s inspector general said SNAP and other related programs were also raided “to line the pockets of fraudsters and bankroll other criminal activities like guns and drugs that make American communities less safe.”
As New was arrested last Tuesday in Las Vegas, two other alleged SNAP fraudsters — Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan — were indicted in Ohio federal court for allegedly stealing almost $30 million in fake electronic benefit transfer (EBT) transactions through their Chicago-based food retail stores.
The grocers allowed accomplices in a criminal organization that stole “thousands of Ohio SNAP participants” EBT account information “to be fraudulently processed, scanned, or swiped using
their respective point-of-sale devices” in their Illinois stores.
Other defendants were charged in September for also selling EBT cards, submitting fake crop insurance claims for up to $1.7 million to USDA, running a racket that used $2.4 million in fraudulently obtained food stamps to buy over 124,000 pounds of baby formula and then sell it for a profit on the black market.
Alleged fraudsters from Yemen who are now living in Ohio, Michigan and New York were also charged with stealing $1 million in food stamp benefits to pay for marijuana or exchange EBT card values for cash.
Dominican Republic national Fernandez Guzman additionally stole more than $22,000 in SNAP benefits, more than $98,000 in MassHealth benefits and more than $45,500 in Section 8 housing benefits — before being charged for using fake state ID cards and driver’s licenses in three states to do so.
“He is suspected to be unlawfully in the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald. “This is one of the many cases charged this year involving suspected illegal aliens stealing the identities of Americans to then steal from America.”
“These schemes siphoned millions from taxpayers and robbed struggling Americans of the benefits they depend on so fraudsters could use them for their own selfish purposes,” Blanche said in a statement.
One of the victims, the AG noted, had to take out a loan to put food on the table for her children, since her debit card’s funds had been depleted by fraudsters.
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