Jewish power: FBI destroys evidence linked to Medicare fraud among Orthodox Jewish community in New York

The FBI destroyed records indicating potential Medicaid fraud among haredi Orthodox Jews in upstate New York’s Orange County supposedly because they came from an "unauthorized" investigation. Justin Rodriguez, a spokesman for Orange County, said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had destroyed materials submitted by a county social services employee, Nicole Latreille. Latreille filed a lawsuit recently against the county saying that she was penalized for being a whistle-blower after reporting evidence of $40 million in fraud among residents of Kiryas Joel, a predominantly Hasidic Jewish village inside the town of Monroe. Rodriguez said that Latreille was suspended temporarily and given a lateral assignment for using county computers and restricted databases “not pursuant to her official duties, but as a private citizen.” Latreille’s allegations, Rodriguez said, “while populist, are not legally tenable and in fact may have compromised ongoing investigations.” According to Rodriguez, the FBI informed the county that it had destroyed the materials sent by Latreille earlier in 2015 “due to the improprieties associated with the manner in which the information was obtained.” The bureau said that the information was not used in any criminal investigation or prosecution. Latreille’s complaint suggests that she was punished because her investigation “revealed corruption by persons associated with political allies” of County Executive Steve Neuhaus in Kiryas Joel.