An Ohio man has been indicted and arrested for defrauding grocery chain Save A Lot out of more than $15 million worth of groceries and inventory, authorities said.
Muhammad Babar Chaudhry, 46, was indicted for four counts of wire fraud last month in federal court in St. Louis. He was arrested last week and ordered to be held in jail until trial. Wire fraud carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.
Beginning in 2021, a Missouri grocery chain licensed its brand to 38 stores operated by Chaudhry, who owns a grocery chain in southern Ohio called Sunshine Stores, LLC, according to the indictment.
Health inspection records and other court documents show that Chaudhry's Sunshine Stores operates over 30 stores across Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania under the bann