Lakewood fraud: 159 granted amnesty, $2 million to be recovered

State officials said Tuesday 159 people took advantage of a controversial prosecution amnesty program offered in the wake of welfare fraud arrests in Lakewood.

Those individuals are expected to repay a total of about $2.2 million — an average of $13,800 each — in Medicaid benefits they wrongly received, according to the Office of the State Comptroller.

The deadline to apply for the amnesty program passed on Dec. 12, and Tuesday was the first time results were publicly released. Doing so revived debate over the fairness of the program.

Comptroller staffers have been working to finalize settlement agreements with the individuals, each of whom had to agree to repay within six months any inappropriately received benefits plus a fine, according to the terms of the program.

Read more: https://www.app.com/story/news/investigations/watchdog/2018/03/27/amnesty-program-results-lakewood-nj-welfare-fraud-arrests-recovery/948466001/