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Elizabeth Public School District, False Claims Act, New Jersey 2023
NEWARK, N.J. – The Elizabeth Public School District has agreed to credit its School Lunch Program $272,810 and pay $49,500 to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to settle allegations that it improperly used federal and state funds to provide meals and catering services for school board meetings and other special functions.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General, investigated the school district and found that between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2014, the district failed to collect, reimburse, or apply $182,243 to its lunch program for catering services provided to its Board of Directors and $90,567 for catering services provided to various schools, principals, and administrators within the district for other special functions.
The school district’s lunch program receives federal and state funds designated specifically for the program, which must be kept separate and independent from other funds and used solely for approved lunch program purposes. The district may generate revenue for its lunch program by selling snacks and meals and providing catering services, but all money used for and earned from these services must be used solely for the lunch program.
As part of the settlement agreement, the school district will participate in training and be subject to three years of monitoring by the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance and the state Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food and Nutrition.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited the New Jersey Department of Education’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance, the state Department of Agriculture’s Division of Food and Nutrition, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General with the investigation leading to the settlement.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Valorie D. Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division in Newark. Defense counsel is Bruce S. Rosen Esq., of Florham Park, New Jersey.
The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there have been no admissions of liability.
Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Category: Public Corruption|False Claims Act
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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