Story by Ethan
On March 23rd, 2026, the arrest of Mohamed Orabi, age 33, was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.. Mohamed Orabi was charged with three counts of third-degree Grand Larceny. The arrest and charges against Mohamed Orabi were a result of an investigation handled by Financial Frauds Bureau Program Coordinator Fiona Li, Investigative Analyst Natalie Boll, Paralegal Selena Hernandez, Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations Unit Senior Financial Investigators William Martin, Deputy Chief of the Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations Irene Serrapica, and Deputy Chief of Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations Robert Demarest.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, between the dates of October 3rd, 2024, and November 10th, 2025, it’s alleged that Mohamed Orabi stole over $50,000 from three separate mobile food vendors through false claims of providing NYC vendor permits. The defendant requested that the victims pay him thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for him securing them NYC licensed permits. The victims were also told that they would receive their permits after their respective vendors passed a pre-permit inspection. Mohamed Orabi received payments from each of the victims without providing them with the aforementioned permits, and whenever the victims would contact him the defendant would make various excuses as to why the inspections have not taken place yet. On top of initial payments Mohamed Orabi coerced more payments from another victim under the pretense of them owing payments to the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. The defendant also called this victim posing as an insurance broker while using a different phone number to hide the fact that it was himself. No insurance payments were secured through this attempt, nor did the victim actually have any outstanding payments or fines. Mohamed Orabi additionally demanded the victims to provide him with their debit card info claiming it was to be used for truck renovations and modifications. However no modifications were made to any vendors and the defendant allegedly instead used the victims’ debit cards for approximately $10,000 to use in sports betting transactions.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Mohamed Orabi are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
