TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A free roadside safety kit is being offered under the auspices of AAA, but it’s actually a phishing scheme that not only levies a “shipping charge,” but uses bank card numbers for unrelated items.
The Tahlequah Daily Press followed the link provided in a press release received by newsroom staff, preparing to write an article on something that sounded like a good deal for drivers who are members of AAA.
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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A free roadside safety kit is being offered under the auspices of AAA, but it’s actually a phishing scheme that not only levies a “shipping charge,” but uses bank card numbers for unrelated items.
The Tahlequah Daily Press followed the link provided in a press release received by newsroom staff, preparing to write an article on something that sounded like a good deal for drivers who are members of AAA.
This page requires Javascript.
Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
WASHINGTON — Late last month, an immigrant seeking asylum in the U.S. came across social media posts urging her to pay a new fee imposed by the Trump administration before Oct. 1, or else risk her case being dismissed.
Paula, a 40-year-old Los Angeles-area immigrant from Mexico, whose full name The Times is withholding because she fears retribution, applied for asylum in 2021 and her case is now on appeal.
But when Paula tried to pay the $100 annual fee, she couldn’t find an option on the immigration court’s website that accepted fees for pending asylum cases. Afraid of deportation — and with just five hours before the payment deadline — she selected the closest approximation she could find, $110 for an appeal filed before July 7.
She knew it was likely incorrect. Still, she felt it was better to pay for something, rather than nothing at all, as a show of good faith. Unable to come up with the money on such short notice, Paula, who works in a warehouse repairing purses, paid the fee with a credit card.
“I hope that money isn’t wasted,” she said.
That remains unclear because of confusion and misinformation surrounding the rollout of a host of new fees or fee increases for a variety of immigration services. The fees are part of the sweeping budget bill President Trump signed into law in July.
Paula was one of thousands of asylum seekers across the country who panicked after seeing messages on social media urging them to pay the new fee before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1.
But government messaging about the fees has sometimes been chaotic and contradictory, immigration attorneys say. Some asylum seekers have received notice about the fees, while others have not. Misinformation surged as immigrants scrambled to figure out whether, and how, to pay.
Advocates worry the confusion serves as a way for immigration officials to dismiss more asylum cases, which would render the applicants deportable.
The fees vary. For those seeking asylum, there is a $100 fee for new applications, as well as a yearly fee of $100 for pending applications. The fee for an initial work permit is $550 and work permit renewals can be as much as $795.
Amy Grenier, associate director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Assn., said that not having a clear way to pay a fee might seem like a small government misstep, but the legal consequences are substantial.
For new asylum applications, she said, some immigration judges set a payment deadline of Sept. 30, even though the Executive Office for Immigration Review only updated the payment portal in the last week of September.
“The lack of coherent guidance and structure to pay the fee only compounded the inefficiency of our immigration courts,” Grenier said. “There are very real consequences for asylum-seekers navigating this completely unnecessary bureaucratic mess.”
Two agencies collect the asylum fees: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Department of Homeland Security, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), under the Department of Justice, which operates immigration courts.
Both agencies initially released different instructions regarding the fees, and only USCIS has provided an avenue for payment.
The departments of Homeland Security and Justice didn’t respond to a request for comment. The White House deferred to USCIS.
USCIS spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser said the asylum fee is being implemented consistent with the law.
“The real losers in this are the unscrupulous and incompetent immigration attorneys who exploit their clients and bog down the system with baseless asylum claims,” he said.
The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), a national membership organization, sued the Trump administration earlier this month after thousands of members shared their confusion over the new fees, arguing that the federal agencies involved “threaten to deprive asylum seekers of full and fair consideration of their claims.”
The organization also argued the fees shouldn’t apply to people whose cases were pending before Trump signed the budget package into law.
In a U.S. district court filing Monday, Justice Department lawyers defended the fees, saying, “Congress made clear that these new asylum fees were long overdue and necessary to recover the growing costs of adjudicating the millions of pending asylum applications.”
Some of the confusion resulted from contradictory information.
A notice by USCIS in the July 22 Federal Register confused immigrants and legal practitioners alike because of a reference to Sept. 30. Anyone who had applied for asylum as of Oct. 1, 2024, and whose application was still pending by Sept. 30, was instructed to pay a fee. Some thought the notice meant that Sept. 30 was the deadline to pay the yearly asylum fee.
By this month, USCIS clarified on its website that it will “issue personal notices” alerting asylum applicants when their annual fee is due, how to pay it and the consequences for failing to do so.
The agency created a payment portal and began sending out notices Oct. 1, instructing recipients to pay within 30 days.
But many asylum seekers are still waiting to be notified by USCIS, according to ASAP, the advocacy organization. Some have received texts or physical mail telling them to check their USCIS account, while others have resorted to checking their accounts daily.
Meanwhile the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) didn’t add a mechanism for paying the $100 fee for pending asylum cases — the one Paula hoped to pay — until Thursday.
In its Oct. 3 complaint, lawyers for ASAP wrote: “Troublingly, ASAP has received reports that some immigration judges at EOIR are already requiring applicants to have paid the annual asylum fee, and in at least one case even rejected an asylum application and ordered an asylum seeker removed for non-payment of the annual asylum fee, despite the agency providing no way to pay this fee.”
An immigration lawyer in San Diego, who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution, said an immigration judge denied his client’s asylum petition because the client had not paid the new fee, even though there was no way to pay it.
The judge issued an order, which was shared with The Times, that read, “Despite this mandatory requirement, to date the respondents have not filed proof of payment for the annual asylum fee.”
The lawyer called the decision a due process violation. He said he now plans to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, though another fee increase under Trump’s spending package raised that cost from $110 to $1,010. He is litigating the case pro bono.
Justice Department lawyers said Monday that EOIR had eliminated the initial inconsistency by revising its position to reflect that of USCIS and will soon send out official notices to applicants, giving them 30 days to make the payment.
“There was no unreasonable delay here in EOIR’s implementation,” the filing said. “…The record shows several steps were required to finalize EOIR’s process, including coordination with USCIS. Regardless, Plaintiff’s request is now moot.”
Immigrants like Paula, who is a member of ASAP, recently got some reassurance. In a court declaration, EOIR Director Daren Margolin wrote that for anyone who made anticipatory or advance payments for the annual asylum fee, “those payments will be applied to the alien’s owed fees, as appropriate.”
From nonprofits to credit unions, organizations across the country are stepping up to help military families and federal workers as the government shutdown continues. Many are reporting an alarming surge in demand.Since the shutdown, military spouse Alicia Blevins has faced a mountain of stress. Her family’s savings are depleted, stress-related health issues are emerging, and her job search has been put on hold 16 days into the shutdown. “It’s the stress that’s really gotten to us,” Blevins said. “Right now, I’ve got my resume out to every customer service job, entry level or not. I’ve got it out everywhere.”The desperation is being felt at nonprofits like the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN). This week, the organization launched its emergency grocery support program in response to the shutdown, noting that more than 6,000 verified military families applied for its 1,600 grocery packages in the first 24 hours alone.”This moment really puts families at a very fragile place,” MFAN’s Chief Advancement Officer Kara Pappas said. “The need has so quickly eclipsed the demand that we need support from Americans.”Financial institutions are also escalating aid to military members and federal workers who qualify. The Navy Federal Credit Union, for example, is offering 0% interest loans through its paycheck assistance program.The USAA is offering the same and reports that it’s issued nearly $270 million in loans to more than 71,000 of its members so far.The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) is giving those eligible up to $150 in micro-grants to support federal employees impacted by the shutdown.Patrick Malone, Director at the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, emphasizes prioritizing mental health during the shutdown. Malone advises those impacted to reach out and tap into resources immediately and scheduling time for self-care.Watch the latest coverage on the federal government shutdown:
WASHINGTON —
From nonprofits to credit unions, organizations across the country are stepping up to help military families and federal workers as the government shutdown continues. Many are reporting an alarming surge in demand.
Since the shutdown, military spouse Alicia Blevins has faced a mountain of stress. Her family’s savings are depleted, stress-related health issues are emerging, and her job search has been put on hold 16 days into the shutdown.
“It’s the stress that’s really gotten to us,” Blevins said. “Right now, I’ve got my resume out to every customer service job, entry level or not. I’ve got it out everywhere.”
The desperation is being felt at nonprofits like the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN). This week, the organization launched its emergency grocery support program in response to the shutdown, noting that more than 6,000 verified military families applied for its 1,600 grocery packages in the first 24 hours alone.
“This moment really puts families at a very fragile place,” MFAN’s Chief Advancement Officer Kara Pappas said. “The need has so quickly eclipsed the demand that we need support from Americans.”
Financial institutions are also escalating aid to military members and federal workers who qualify.
The Navy Federal Credit Union, for example, is offering 0% interest loans through its paycheck assistance program.
The USAA is offering the same and reports that it’s issued nearly $270 million in loans to more than 71,000 of its members so far.
The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) is giving those eligible up to $150 in micro-grants to support federal employees impacted by the shutdown.
Patrick Malone, Director at the Key Executive Leadership Program at American University, emphasizes prioritizing mental health during the shutdown. Malone advises those impacted to reach out and tap into resources immediately and scheduling time for self-care.
Watch the latest coverage on the federal government shutdown:
Sacramento startup, Food Token, is adding another way local restaurants can accept payment – cryptocurrency. Brian Barton, founder of Food Token, shared his journey with KCRA 3, inspired by his frustrations with traditional banking, leading to the idea for Food Token.”I want to do my banking with a restaurant. I don’t need a bank in between,” he said.In 2024, approximately 17% of American adults say they have invested in or own cryptocurrencies.Food Token is already operational in select Sacramento restaurants, including Jim Boys, Brookfield’s, Chocolate Fish, and Beach Hut Deli. Barton explained that the platform allows restaurants to accept the five major cryptocurrencies.Barton also addressed concerns about security for consumers.“From the restaurant’s point of view, the restaurant is never seeing the cryptocurrency. The restaurant is just accepting it just as they would a digital gift card,” Barton said. Barton noted that convincing restaurants to do something new has been an uphill battle, particularly when it’s about a new field like cryptocurrency. Sacramento was chosen as the launch site for Food Token due to its status as the “farm-to-fork capital” and Barton’s personal connection to the area. “We want to find a use case first for restaurants in the Sacramento area and for consumers in the Sacramento area,” Barton said, emphasizing the importance of understanding local needs before expanding.For those interested in using Food Token, Barton encouraged restaurants to reach out via their website, offering a straightforward way to start accepting cryptocurrency.”We only charge $0.10 per transaction, unlike Visa and Mastercard,” he said, highlighting the financial benefits for restaurants.As cryptocurrency continues to gain popularity, Food Token aims to simplify the process for both consumers and restaurants, paving the way for a new era of digital payments in the restaurant industry.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento startup, Food Token, is adding another way local restaurants can accept payment – cryptocurrency.
Brian Barton, founder of Food Token, shared his journey with KCRA 3, inspired by his frustrations with traditional banking, leading to the idea for Food Token.
“I want to do my banking with a restaurant. I don’t need a bank in between,” he said.
In 2024, approximately 17% of American adults say they have invested in or own cryptocurrencies.
Food Token is already operational in select Sacramento restaurants, including Jim Boys, Brookfield’s, Chocolate Fish, and Beach Hut Deli. Barton explained that the platform allows restaurants to accept the five major cryptocurrencies.
Barton also addressed concerns about security for consumers.
“From the restaurant’s point of view, the restaurant is never seeing the cryptocurrency. The restaurant is just accepting it just as they would a digital gift card,” Barton said.
Barton noted that convincing restaurants to do something new has been an uphill battle, particularly when it’s about a new field like cryptocurrency.
Sacramento was chosen as the launch site for Food Token due to its status as the “farm-to-fork capital” and Barton’s personal connection to the area.
“We want to find a use case first for restaurants in the Sacramento area and for consumers in the Sacramento area,” Barton said, emphasizing the importance of understanding local needs before expanding.
For those interested in using Food Token, Barton encouraged restaurants to reach out via their website, offering a straightforward way to start accepting cryptocurrency.
“We only charge $0.10 per transaction, unlike Visa and Mastercard,” he said, highlighting the financial benefits for restaurants.
As cryptocurrency continues to gain popularity, Food Token aims to simplify the process for both consumers and restaurants, paving the way for a new era of digital payments in the restaurant industry.
Some recipients of Social Security disability and retirement benefits will receive an extra payment in November, with the first coming this week.Related video above: Protect yourself from scams this shopping season People who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and have collected Social Security since before May 1997 will be paid on Friday. For those who receive both benefits, Social Security will be paid on Monday, Nov. 3.Adults and children are eligible for SSI if they have limited to no income or resources and have a disability and blindness, or are 65 and older. About 7.4 million people receive SSI benefits, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).SSI recipients will receive a second check next month, coming on Nov. 29. However, this is not an additional payment. That check will count toward December’s allotment.SSI payments typically occur on the first of every month but since Dec. 1 is on a Sunday, and the SSA does not make payments on weekends or federal holidays, the administration is pushing the payment up a couple of days.”We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment,” the SSA said in a blog post. “It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.”
Some recipients of Social Security disability and retirement benefits will receive an extra payment in November, with the first coming this week.
Related video above: Protect yourself from scams this shopping season
People who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and have collected Social Security since before May 1997 will be paid on Friday. For those who receive both benefits, Social Security will be paid on Monday, Nov. 3.
Adults and children are eligible for SSI if they have limited to no income or resources and have a disability and blindness, or are 65 and older. About 7.4 million people receive SSI benefits, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
SSI recipients will receive a second check next month, coming on Nov. 29. However, this is not an additional payment. That check will count toward December’s allotment.
SSI payments typically occur on the first of every month but since Dec. 1 is on a Sunday, and the SSA does not make payments on weekends or federal holidays, the administration is pushing the payment up a couple of days.
“We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment,” the SSA said in a blog post. “It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.”
The Florida Lottery recently announced that Dianna Baker, of Inglis, claimed a $2?million?top prize from the FLORIDA 100X THE CASH?scratch-off game.
The Levy County woman chose to receive her winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $1,390,000.00.
Baker purchased her winning ticket from Kwik Stop, located at 529 US Highway 40 West in Inglis. The retailer received a $4,000 bonus commission for selling the winning scratch-off ticket.
She claimed the Florida 100X The Cash top prize?at the Lottery’s Gainesville District Office.
Scratch-off games are an important part of the Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 74 percent of ticket sales in fiscal year 2023-2024. Additionally, since inception, scratch-off games have awarded more than $63.1 billion in prizes, created 2,175 millionaires, and generated more than $19.24 billion for the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF).
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $46 billion to enhance education and sending more than 983,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests 99 percent of its revenue into Florida’s economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,600 Lottery retailers, and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $95.7 billion in prizes and made more than 4,000 people millionaires.
A Central Florida man won $50,000 a Year for Life scratch-off game from the Florida Lottery.
41-year-old Edin Galindo chose to receive his winnings as a one-time, lump-sum payment of $815,000. He claimed his winning ticket at Lottery Headquarters in Tallahassee.
The Tampa winner bought the winning ticket at a Quick Mart located at 2209 East Bearss Avenue. The store will receive a $2,000 bonus commission for selling the ticket.
According to the Florida Lottery, the $2 scratch-off game offers over $52 million in cash prizes. There are a total of eight top prizes of $50,000 a year for life.
The overall odds of winning are 1-in-4.43.
Scratch-off games are an important part of the Florida Lottery’s portfolio of games, comprising approximately 72 percent of ticket sales in fiscal year 2022-2023. Additionally, since inception, scratch-off games have awarded more than $61.9 billion in prizes, created 2,103 millionaires, and generated more than $18.95 billion for the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund (EETF).
The Florida Lottery is responsible for contributing more than $46 billion to enhance education and sending more than 983,000 students to college through the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. The Florida Lottery reinvests 99 percent of its revenue into Florida’s economy through prize payouts, commissions to more than 13,500 Lottery retailers, and transfers to education. Since 1988, Florida Lottery games have paid more than $94.2 billion in prizes and made more than 4,000 people millionaires.
Guitars flutter, an accordion wheezes and a singer unwinds the triumphant tale of Fernando Ochoa Jauregui, a Modesto-area builder of food trucks and trailers.
“He still parties just because he feels like it,” the lyrics go. “But what he enjoys the most is partying with a banda at festivals in his town with a beautiful lady by his side.”
In a video accompanying the Spanish-language corrido, images flash of Ochoa beaming in front of shiny cars and atop jet skis. In some, he wears hats with the logo of his company: 8A Food Trucks. It ends with footage of stacks of cash and a money-counting machine.
The narrative ballad, titled “El del 8A” on YouTube, gives the impression that Ochoa is a kingpin at the helm of a burgeoning empire — one who “gives thanks to his father for making him a good kid.”
But unhappy 8A Food Trucks customers across California — from Sacramento to Salinas and San Bernardino — tell their own stories. They describe toiling as cooks, custodians and construction workers, saving for years to get a chance at starting their own business, only to have their dreams dashed. In a rough and tumble industry, largely secluded in poor, immigrant neighborhoods and farming communities, they allege Ochoa stands out for his callousness.
In lawsuits and interviews, former clients accused Ochoa and his company of not delivering trucks or trailers they ordered and refusing to return their partial or full payments. Others alleged that they received vehicles so poorly built that they couldn’t be used. And some have accused Ochoa of taking back trailers they’d purchased from him.
All told, 15 alleged victims claimed more than $475,000 in losses, according to a Times analysis.
In an interview, Ochoa, 28, disputed several of the allegations and acknowledged some mistakes, chalking them up in part to his inexperience in business, which he said led to delays in completing projects for customers. “I’m trying to deal with this scandal so I can make my business better again — I had a real company,” he said. “I’m not a business expert. I just know how to build trucks.”
Ochoa has become a symbol in Spanish media of the perils that lurk in the mobile food industry. In a 2023 report on him, a Univision news anchor warned those entering the business to exercise extreme caution. The controversy comes at a fraught moment for vendors in Southern California. Several in the L.A. area were robbed by gunmen last summer in brazen attacks that highlight the risks of selling food on Southland streets.
Alejandro Gonzalez was in a dispute over payment for a trailer when an old Toyota Camry pulled up to the drive-through window of Mi Casita Purepecha, his San Bernardino restaurant, on Feb. 1.
“Are you Alejandro?” the front-seat passenger asked Gonzalez, who was standing at the window.
The restaurateur said he was — and the man pulled out a gun and pointed it at him.
In the confusion of the moment, Gonzalez said, he turned to help customers inside the Mexican restaurant and the Camry sped away. Gonzalez, 44, didn’t recognize the men. But he said he fears that they are connected to Ochoa. Asked about the incident, Ochoa said he did not send armed men to Mi Casita Purepecha.
Gonzalez and his wife, Paulina Quintal, had contacted 8A Food Trucks in early January about building them two trailers so they could start a mobile food business. Ochoa delivered a trailer to their home two weeks later. Gonzalez said that he and his wife paid for it in full, and gave the builder a check for the down payment on a second one.
San Bernardino resident Alejandro Gonzalez said that this mobile food trailer, which he purchased from 8A Food Trucks, was stolen from his driveway in January.
(Alejandro Gonzalez)
Soon, however, men working for Ochoa appeared at Mi Casita Purepecha to dispute Gonzalez’s ownership of the trailer he’d bought days earlier, he said. Then, after the couple’s check for the second trailer didn’t clear, a third party passed along what Gonzalez said was a threatening voicemail from Ochoa.
On Jan. 21, Gonzalez said he returned from an errand to find his trailer had been stolen from his driveway. Seeking answers, he said he traveled to 8A Food Trucks’ headquarters in Ceres, Calif., but found the site deserted. The next day, Gonzalez said, the men with the gun visited him.
Gonzalez filed reports with the San Bernardino Police Department over the theft and the run-in at his restaurant. Regarding Ochoa, Gonzalez said, “I don’t know how he sleeps.”
Ochoa denied stealing the trailer from Gonzalez and Quintal’s home — “I would never do that,” he said — and alleged that they had not fully paid for it, saying that the check that bounced was meant to go toward the money they owed on it. Ochoa said he had sent two people to Mi Casita Purepecha to address those matters — and not to intimidate the couple.
“None of my people are armed,” he said. “We are businessmen; we dedicate ourselves to working and building trailers.”
Though the dollar amounts in most of the cases involving Ochoa are not large, for fledgling operators trying to break into the mobile food industry — many of them working-class immigrants — it’s enough to sidetrack their business dreams. And their predicaments highlight the vulnerability of California’s food industry workers, many of whom lack a financial safety net or the time and experience required to navigate the legal system. Some are undocumented and fear speaking to authorities.
“There were nights that we would cry, my husband and I,” said Adriana Nicanor, a San Joaquin resident. She and her husband filed a lawsuit against Ochoa and 8A Food Trucks last year that asserted he never delivered a trailer and claimed he refused to return their $20,000 deposit. They secured a default judgment, court records show, but have been unable to collect on it.
“It’s very frustrating,” Nicanor said. “My brother lent me that money. There were times we would struggle. Who asks for this?”
For many of Ochoa’s clients, making a down payment on a truck or trailer — both of which typically include kitchens — was an important first step in fulfilling a long-held entrepreneurial ambition. Some said that the alleged losses were especially painful because they came at the hands of one of their own: a Mexican immigrant who lived in the Central Valley and previously worked at an industrial shop before founding 8A Food Trucks in 2019.
He’s taking advantage of “the campesinos — the farmworkers,” said activist Alicia Espinoza, a Moreno Valley resident who has helped organize some of Ochoa’s accusers. “My dad, when he came to this country, he was a strawberry picker. It just hurts me that this guy could take advantage of people like him.”
Ochoa said he has many happy customers and has gone out of his way to help them achieve their aspirations, noting, for example, that he has sometimes accepted payment in installments. “Not many businesses do that,” he said. “You know, we’re not a bank.” As for the Nicanors, Ochoa denied that he failed to meet an agreed-upon deadline for delivery, and said he plans to pay them back.
Mi Casita Purepecha owner Alejandro Gonzalez said a car pulled up to the restaurant’s drive-through window and a passenger pulled a gun on him Feb. 1.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Several of those making allegations against Ochoa reside in Stanislaus County, an agricultural hub whose biggest city is Modesto. Wendell Emerson, a deputy district attorney for the county, confirmed that his office is conducting “an active criminal investigation” of Ochoa. He declined to comment further.
After the incident at Mi Casita Purepecha, Gonzalez closed the restaurant and left San Bernardino, relocating his family — he and his wife have three children — to a place they feel safe.
“I don’t know how long it is going to be,” Gonzalez said. “I feel like I lost everything.”
Lawsuits reveal a pattern
Ochoa is an entrepreneur of the internet age.
Food industry workers who’ve done business with the Colima, Mexico, native said that they found him via social media, where his posts depict a professional at the helm of a prosperous company.
The Instagram account for 8A Food Trucks includes several images of gleaming vehicles, their stainless steel kitchens spotless under bright lights. The “8A” in the company’s name is a play on words: pronounced in Spanish, it sounds like “Ochoa.”
A recently divorced father of two young girls, Ochoa has positioned 8A as a brand beyond the world of food services: There are Instagram pages for a hat company with 8A in the name, and another for a jet-ski rental service. It’s all part of a slick image that Ochoa has cultivated online, where it’s easy to find his self-aggrandizing corridos and photographs of him posing in front of his black Chevrolet Corvette.
“Now they see me living well,” the lyrics of one song go, “driving around in a Corvette, buzzing.”
Ochoa’s flaunting of his success has infuriated customers with whom he’s tussled.
For Norma Estevez and her husband, Sebastian Delgado, entering the mobile food trade was a step toward realizing an important goal: owning a business they could pass onto their three children. But Estevez and Delgado, both Mexican American, believe they lost more money than any of Ochoa’s other alleged victims.
The Salinas couple contacted Ochoa in 2021 to build a pair of trailers, selecting him, Estevez said, because he was Latino. “He didn’t have many clients,” she said, “and you could tell he has this aspiration to succeed.”
Estevez needed the trailers for a big opportunity: She had signed a contract with a produce company in nearby Watsonville to feed 70 field workers for 10 months beginning in February 2022. The owner had predicated the deal on her securing a trailer and having proper permits.
Ochoa told her that each trailer would cost $41,000, and promised to complete construction by the end of January, according to Estevez, who showed The Times invoices that documented the deal.
She and her husband sent Ochoa $60,000 over the course of several months, and as the deadline approached, they scheduled a day to pick up the trailers from 8A Food Trucks’ shop, Estevez said. But Ochoa canceled on them, she said, explaining that “his mother had arrived from Mexico and that he needed to pick her up from the airport.” They rescheduled, but he again put them off.
By then, Estevez’s contract with the Watsonville company had begun, and she scrambled to honor it. She was forced to buy meals for the workers, spending about $37 per person a day for the next week and a half — an all-in cost of nearly $26,000. Eventually, she rented a kitchen for $800 a week, and did so until the contract concluded, turning only a small profit on the deal.
And without the trailers, Estevez wasn’t able to renew the contract. “I felt embarrassed … like we had lost a great opportunity,” she said.
Ochoa acknowledged that he didn’t meet the agreed-upon deadline — and that the situation was similar to that of other clients who didn’t receive their vehicles on time. But, he said, others were willing to wait. “Norma’s situation was that if she didn’t get the trailers by a certain date, then she wasn’t going to need them,” he said.
Estevez and Delgado filed a lawsuit against Ochoa for breach of contract and other claims in July 2022. Months later, the parties agreed to a settlement that called for Ochoa to pay Estevez and Delgado about $70,000, including attorney’s fees, according to court documents. Estevez said that Ochoa has only paid $30,000, leaving her deeply disillusioned.
“We were like him, we came to this country to better our lives,” she said. “He knew our dream and ambitions — we told him how hard we worked for it.”
Gonzalez, meanwhile, isn’t the only person who alleged that a trailer purchased from Ochoa was later taken back by him.
Shelly Lopez and her husband, Jesus Avalos, said they paid Ochoa $37,000, and after nine months of delays — and their appearance in a Univision 19 Sacramento segment to discuss them — the Sacramento couple received a trailer in January 2023.
A man Shelly Lopez identified as Fernando Ochoa Jauregui came to her Sacramento home, she said, in February 2023 to take the trailer that 8A Food Trucks had recently sold her.
(Courtesy of Shelly Lopez)
After just a week, though, Ochoa told Lopez that he needed to take it back to his shop to make some adjustments, she said. A video that Lopez provided to The Times shows a man she identified as Ochoa connecting the trailer to the back of a pickup truck in February 2023.
“I didn’t want to let him take it,” Lopez said. “But my husband said, ‘It’s OK, he’ll make the repairs and bring it back to us.’”
It was the last time Lopez and Avalos saw the trailer.
“We had so many fights after that,” she said. “It would come up whenever we were driving and saw people running their businesses, selling food. I would blame him for it.”
Ochoa said that Lopez hadn’t paid for the trailer in full, and that she was making payments in installments. He said that he only retrieved the trailer after she told him it needed repairs. After seeing her negative public comments about him, Ochoa said that he decided to void the payment plan, and resolved to return her funds.
Lopez said she has not gotten the money back.
‘He’s been laughing at us’
In recent days, Ochoa has come under attack online by disgruntled customers — and his former mother-in-law.
Gisela Macias, 48, said that strangers began showing up at her Modesto home over the summer in search of Ochoa. They came, she said, to demand he pay them back for vehicles they’d purchased but never received. The visits were so frequent that she began recording interviews with some of the people to post on TikTok.
Ochoa said that the internet activism and local TV news stories have led to an exodus of clients, which has imperiled his ability to pay back customers like Estevez. He said that he can only make payments in $1,000 increments. “I know it’s not much,” he said, “but I have no business due to everything that’s being said about my company.”
He said he had to close 8A Food Trucks’ headquarters in Ceres because angry clients kept going there to confront him. But his braggadocio is still easy to find on the internet. A 2023 corrido about Ochoa titled “Por 8A Me Conocen” includes the boast that “business is steady and we’re never going to stop.”
“I fought hard and little by little grew the empire that I founded,” the singer trills.
It incenses Estevez. “He’s been laughing at us — the people who had dreams, who worked hard to save money to make those dreams a reality,” she said.
These days, the equipment that Estevez and her husband bought for their two trailers — ovens, cooking wares and more — is mothballed in their garage. It’s hard for her to enter the space without crying.
“That’s our dream right there, collecting dust,” she said.
Times researcher Scott Wilson and columnist Gustavo Arellano contributed to this report.
Earlier this year, Razorpay acquired payments platform Ezetap for $200 million—its biggest so far— which will help the company expand into the offline market. Ezetap accepts all physical payment modes like cards, mobile wallets, biometric-based, QR code-based, payments via messaging apps, etc.
The fintech platform is eyeing the offline segment after establishing itself in the online space since 2013. “Our offline expansion strategy is very clear and our recent acquisition of Ezetap is in tune with that. It’s a significant player in the offline market which is a completely new market for us,” Rahul Kothari, Chief Business Officer, Razorpay told Business Today.
He said there’s a lot of competition in the offline payments space from players like Pine Labs and Mswipe but that doesn’t keep him on his toes. “Instead of being bothered by the competition, we’re more focused on how to create a very serious omni-channel offering for our merchants. Today it doesn’t make a lot of sense for them to have a separate online and offline partners because they want to have a 360 degree view of the customer. They also want to have a very similar experience when they have both online and offline payments,” he added.
Kothari said that end customers want to leverage the same kind of rewards in offline payments that they get online. “With that strategy, these are the new markets we’re looking at in addition to having a very strong omni-channel payments experience because that’s the direction in which the entire payments industry would move,” he said.
The fintech platform has close to 8 million registered merchants and around 90 per cent of them are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) while 5-7 per cent is mid-market companies. “Going forward we see more growth in the SME segment than the enterprise segment,” Kothari added.
In December last year, Razorpay became the most valuable fintech start-up in India, with a valuation of $7.5 billion. In addition to expanding its offline offering, it will also focus on its 2-year-old neo-banking business going forward. “In neo-banking business we help merchants manage money and that has different kind of offerings ranging from current accounts, to payrolls to forex, FD, payouts, etc. This is more about managing money and then we have a capital business in which we provide working capital loans to the merchants. These new businesses are primarily focused on mid and smaller businesses,” he said.
Bank of America announced a broad shake-up of its senior management last week, including significant changes for two of Charlotte’s most prominent banking leaders.
Chuck Burton
AP
Bank of America is launching a new program in Charlotte and several other cities that will offer home loans with no down payments and no closing costs to Black and Latino communities.
The program, dubbed the “Community Affordable Loan Solution,” aims to offer more affordable mortgages and address the racial homeownership gap between white and Black or Latino Americans, the bank said this week.
The Charlotte-based bank is also launching the initiative in Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami.
The program will evaluate the creditworthiness of first-time homebuyers based on factors like timely rent, utility bill, phone and auto insurance payments.
Individual eligibility for the loans will depend on income and home location. Prospective buyers will need to complete a homebuyer certification course before application.
It was not immediately disclosed when the program will begin accepting applicants.
The Bank of America mortgage announcement cited data from the National Association of Realtors that shows a nearly 30% percent gap between white and Black homeownerhsip rates. Patrick Schneider PatrickSchneiderPhoto.com
Addressing racial home ownership gap
The Bank of America announcement cited data from the National Association of Realtors that shows a nearly 30% gap between white and Black homeownerhsip rates. The gap between white and Latino homeowners is nearly 20%.
That nationwide gap is about on par with Charlotte’s, according to a March report from Stacker, an online news outlet focused on data analysis.
“The competitive housing market has made it even more difficult for potential homebuyers, especially people of color, to buy homes,” Bank of America said in its release said.
Homeownership helps families build wealth over time, AJ Barkley, head of neighborhood and community lending at Bank of America said in a news release.
“Our Community Affordable Loan Solution will help make the dream of sustained homeownership attainable for more Black and Hispanic families,” she said.
Bank of America is the largest bank in Charlotte by assets and by deposits, with some 62% of the market. It employs about 16,000 people here.
Enough to close the gap?
Michael Hoard is a local real estate attorney and president of Charlotte Crown Black Real Estate Association. Programs like Bank of America’s new initiative can be helpful, he said, but don’t remedy deep-seated homeownership disparities.
“There’s so many different ways in which Black (borrowers) were discriminated against over time,” Hoard said. “Bank of America’s program is a great effort. I don’t think it’s going to be enough to really close the gap significantly.”
In his experience in Charlotte, programs that go beyond providing capital can be a more effective solution.
“It’s not just about giving somebody something, it’s also about making sure they’re able to maintain and keep it,” Hoard said. “Giving loans without maybe having some type of wraparound counseling or checks over time for folks — it still makes it a challenge, especially for first-time homebuyers.”
Small business grant program
Bank of America is also launching a small business grant program in Charlotte to support women and minority-owned small businesses, according to the bank. It’s designed to extend credit to “historically disadvantaged” small business borrowers and make commercial real estate more affordable.
The program will offer down payment grants of up to $25,000 for eligible businesses applying for commercial real estate loans. Applicants will need to make a 5% minimum down payment.
It’s also launching in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles, with plans to expand in 2023.
Other racial equity initiatives
Bank of America has committed significant philanthropic resources to racial equity efforts in recent years.
In Charlotte, that’s included a $10 million investment in Johnson C. Smith University, the city’s only historically black university. It’s part of the $25 million the bank committed to the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative, a public-private partnership aimed at addressing longstanding racial disparities in the city.
The bank also gifted $10 million in August to offer in-school healthcare for students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Title 1 schools, in partnership with Atrium Health.
Bank of America also made headlines in June 2020 for a $1 billion pledge to advance racial equity in America, following the murder of George Floyd. Bank of America later increased the amount to $1.25 billion.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 10:00 AM.
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Hannah Lang covers banking, finance and economic equity for The Charlotte Observer. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Triangle Business Journal and the Greensboro News & Record. She studied business journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and grew up in the same town as her alma mater.
Vancouver, BC, May 25, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– Control, a leading transaction analytics and alerts platform for SaaS, subscription and eCommerce businesses, has added an integration with Square.
As the first standalone analytics and reporting tool to integrate with Square, Control now offers merchants that accept payments online and offline the efficiency of seeing all their analytics on one dashboard, rather than having disjointed data that will require manual calculation.
“We are excited to be working together with Square. Square changed the way businesses accept payments, removing the friction that came with acquiring and setting up antiquated POS systems. The future of commerce for smaller businesses is a blend of online and offline. Teaming up with Square ensures that these operators have the analytics and business intelligence they need to grow their company.”
Kathryn Loewen, Founder and CEO of Control
“We are excited to be working together with Square,” says Kathryn Loewen, Founder and CEO of Control. “Square changed the way businesses accept payments, removing the friction that came with acquiring and setting up antiquated POS systems. The future of commerce for smaller businesses is a blend of online and offline. Teaming up with Square ensures that these operators have the analytics and business intelligence they need to grow their company.”
A 2015 study conducted by IDC found that a shopper who buys on both online and offline channels has 30% higher lifetime value than those who only participate on one channel. Monitoring the spending habits of customers is not only crucial for big companies, but for smaller ones too. However, smaller businesses don’t have access to all-in-one enterprise tools. They are restricted by price and size of staff. They use different softwares stacks to accomplish various tasks such as payment — arguably the most important task for any business of any size.
Through its integration with Square, Control becomes the cost-effective, time-saving solution for small to medium-sized business, doing business online and offline, needing critical data in real-time.
“Access to real-time data and insights is critical for any business, whether it’s learning more about your customers or tracking sales performance,” said Pankaj Bengani, Square’s Partnerships Lead. “We’re excited to give sellers more tools to run their business and take payments with Square.”
In addition to Square, Control also added John J. McDonnell, COO of Deep Labs — a transaction processing and risk management platform — to the board of directors. McDonnell has been in the FinTech sector for over 20 years. After McDonnell earned his B.A. degree with honors from Stanford University and his J.D. from UCLA law school, he held executive roles at Visa, CyberSource, Paymo (now BOKU), PaylinX and TNS.
About Control: (https://www.getcontrol.co) Control is a leading transaction analytics and alerts platform for SaaS, subscription, and eCommerce, enabling instant intelligence anywhere via its Android, iOS, and web-based products. Control combines data from multiple sources such as PayPal, Stripe and Square to provide key metrics, without the need for manual calculation or spreadsheets.
