Lakewood rabbi, multiple couples arrested in FBI raids over alleged welfare fraud

By Spencer Kent And Thomas Moriarty
NJ.com
June 26, 2017

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2017/06/rabbi_and_several_others_nabbed_in_fbi_raid_over_w.html

LAKEWOOD -- A rabbi, his wife and multiple other couples were arrested Monday morning in a series of raids by federal and state authorities in a massive welfare fraud investigation, authorities said.

Those arrested included Rabbi Zalmen Sorotzkin, who runs the Congregation Lutzk synagogue, his wife, Tzipporah, and Mordechai Sorotzkin and his wife, Rachel, and Shimon and Yocheved Nussbaum, authorities said.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office confirmed the arrests early Monday. A half-dozen couples were arrested in total during the coordinated raids, authorities said. 

They are accused in a $1.3 million fraud scheme involving under-reported income to illegally obtain Medicaid, Section 8 housing assistance, food stamps, Social Security disability and Supplemental Security Income, authorities said.

A federal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court by the FBI accuses Mordechai and Rachel Sorotzkin of dramatically underreporting their family income on a false application they submit to the state's NJ FamilyCare Medicaid program.

Investigators said Rachel Sorotzkin failed to disclose payments of as much as $1 million she received in tax years 2012 and 2013 after becoming a partner in a limited-liability company, which was not named in the complaint. The couple later used at least $96,000 of the Medicaid funds they weren't entitled to for their own medical expenses or those of their children, the complaint states.

The Nussbaums face similar charges under a federal complaint filed the same day as the Sorotzkins. They are accused of having controlled numerous bank accounts opened under the names of relatives to cover personal expenses.

Zalmen Sorotzkin is scheduled to appear before a judge in Ocean County Superior Court on Monday afternoon. Other cases were being heard in federal court in Trenton.