Middlesex County
Middlesex County paid its opioid lawyers 372,021.37 from the settlement money meant to abate the crisis, left both fees out of its reports to the State, and certified 160,307.19 more program spending than its books show.
Published 09/23/2026 · Updated 10/03/2026
TLDR
- Middlesex County paid The Keefe Law Firm 207,383.37 from its opioid abatement account. The invoice says it is the firm's 10 percent of the settlement money the County received.
- A 164,638.00 Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer fee was moved onto the same account by a journal entry titled To Correct Payment.
- Neither report to the State mentions either firm. Both report 0.00 in administrative expense.
- The County certified 463,815.02 of program spending over two years. Its books show 303,507.83. One 75,000.00 payment was certified in both years.
- The FY2026 report's spending figure, 378,008.00, ties to the books. Its encumbered figure is receipts less spending, 367,493.05, while the books showed 662,670.53 of open orders on 06/18/2026, including 88,362.47 for vehicles no program describes.
No State agency matched these reports to the ledger. This project did.
Summary
Middlesex County receives opioid settlement money in its own right. By its FY2026 report to the Department of Human Services it has received 4,265,565.29 including interest through 06/30/2026. The money must go to opioid abatement. Exhibit E of the national settlements lists the uses.
The County's abatement account is 232100S149-5E07001. It carries two fees to the law firms that sued the opioid companies for the County. Together they total 372,021.37. The County's reports to the State name neither. Section E(6) of the State Subdivision Agreement, the New Jersey MOA, says payments to counsel on the Distributor and Johnson and Johnson settlements shall be made from the Supplemental Contingent Fee Fund. Counsel fees are not an approved use of the abatement money.
The County's reports to the State leave both fees out. The program figures they do report do not match the books. They count payments made after the year closed, count one payment in two years and count one payment twice in the same report. The receipts in the reports do not match the trial balance.
Every figure below comes from the County's own ledger, invoices and reports. The findings and source documents are on the Middlesex County page.
The litigation fees
The Keefe Law Firm, 207,383.37
On 01/16/2025 the County paid The Keefe Law Firm 207,383.37 on check 00352470 and charged it to the abatement account. The ledger calls it Legal Consulting. The firm's invoice of 12/02/2024 states the arithmetic.
| Invoice line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Received by Middlesex since the last payment on 11/2/2023 | 2,151,196.53 |
| Firm's share per the retainer, 10 percent | 215,119.65 |
| Less backstop payments already received | 7,736.28 |
| Billed | 207,383.37 |
The retainer sets the fee at 10 percent on all payments as they are received over the life of the settlement. This is a contingency fee for suing the opioid companies, paid out of the money the settlements pay the County to abate the crisis. The voucher, dated 12/23/2024, cites Resolution 24-43-R. That resolution awarded the 2024 counsel contract to a different firm, Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer. Resolution 25-40-R, awarding the 2025 contract to The Keefe Law Firm, was adopted 01/16/2025, the day the check was issued. No later payment to the firm appears in the vendor history the County produced in September 2026. The finding is here.
Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer, 164,638.00
Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer billed the County on 11/02/2023 for professional services to Middlesex County Opioids. The invoice lists a percentage to date of 1,125,000.00 and fees of 164,638.00. The cover letter calls it the opioid fee based upon a reduced percentage of recovery to date.
The County paid it on check 00334508 on 11/09/2023 and charged it to object 12300000-2120113, Trial Balance 23 Opioid Settle, where the settlement money was held. On 11/30/2023 journal JV08212, described as To Correct Payment, posted the same 164,638.00 to the abatement account. There it reads as an abatement expenditure. The County produced an inquiry screen in place of the journal voucher, so the second side of JV08212 is not in the record. The Keefe invoice bills its percentage on money received since 11/2/2023, the date of the Wilentz invoice. The finding is here.
What the County told the State
The 164,638.00 fell in the FY2024 reporting year. The 207,383.37 fell in FY2025. The FY2024 report and the FY2025 report name neither firm and no legal, counsel or litigation cost. Both answer the administrative expense question with 0.00. The FY2024 program figures add up to 214,116.77 and the FY2025 program figures to 249,698.25. Neither total includes a fee. The finding is here.
The program figures the reports do contain do not match the books either.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY2024 report, expended | 214,116.77 |
| FY2025 report, expended | 249,698.25 |
| Certified over two years | 463,815.02 |
| Charged to the grant reserve, 01/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 | 510,891.20 |
| Less the Keefe fee, in no report | 207,383.37 |
| Program spending on the books | 303,507.83 |
| Certified above the books | 160,307.19 |
The 160,307.19 is made of five pieces, from the County's 2024 and 2025 Detail Activity Reports.
| Piece | Amount |
|---|---|
| Blue Cares payment of 06/06/2024, certified in FY2024 and again in FY2025 | 75,000.00 |
| Kiosk staffing checks of 08/21/2025 and 10/06/2025, after the year closed | 65,626.81 |
| Go Bag supplies certified in FY2024 and again in FY2025 | 7,863.12 |
| Contractor Compliance Monitoring Fund payment, certified twice in FY2025 | 10,576.00 |
| Supplies paid 07/17/2025, after the year closed | 1,241.26 |
| Total | 160,307.19 |
The finding is here.
FY2024 certified a September balance
The FY2024 report certifies 214,116.77 expended from 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024. The 2024 Detail Activity Report prints that exact figure as the running balance of grant reserve object 232100S149-2110223 after September 2024, three months after the year closed. At 06/30/2024 the balance was 143,733.32. The difference, 70,383.45, is two kiosk staffing checks of 07/02/2024 and 09/19/2024 and supplies paid 09/19/2024. The finding is here.
Kiosk checks certified before they were written
The FY2025 report certifies 131,253.65 paid to the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition. That is the full value of purchase order P206187, all four checks. Two of them, 32,813.42 on 08/21/2025 and 32,813.39 on 10/06/2025, were paid after the year closed. The 10/06/2025 check was written after the report's last updated date of 08/27/2025. The FY2024 report did the same with purchase order P200325. Through FY2025 the County certified 262,507.30 to this vendor. The checks it wrote inside those two years total 196,880.49. The finding is here. The FY2026 report certifies the two late checks again, in the year they were paid. See the FY2026 section below.
One payment, two years
The County charged 75,000.00 to the Prosecutor's opioid settlement line on 06/06/2024 for Narcan and the Blue Cares call center. The FY2024 report certifies it. The FY2025 report certifies Blue Cares at 75,000.00 again, expended from 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. The Prosecutor's line shows 0.00 actual in every month of 2025. The finding is here.
The FY2024 report also says the Prosecutor's Office was funded directly to make up a shortfall and allow the program to continue. Settlement money may not replace existing funding. The Prosecutor's earlier Blue Cares funding is not in the record, so this is not tested. The finding is here.
Go Bags is whatever was left
The FY2025 report certifies 32,868.60 for MOSAIC Go Bags. From 01/01/2024 through 07/31/2025 the County charged 512,132.46 to its grant reserve.
| Record | Amount |
|---|---|
| Charged to the grant reserve | 512,132.46 |
| Less kiosk staffing checks | 196,880.49 |
| Less the Keefe fee | 207,383.37 |
| Less Blue Cares | 75,000.00 |
| Left | 32,868.60 |
The Go Bags figure is every leftover charge on the reserve, to the cent. It includes 7,863.12 already certified in FY2024, 1,241.26 paid after the year closed and the 10,576.00 the same report certifies again as Healthcare Kiosks. The finding is here.
Commitments the books do not carry
The FY2024 report certifies 35,576.00 encumbered at 06/30/2024. The 2024 Detail Activity Report shows the Prosecutor's line with 0.00 encumbered and the abatement line with 0.00 encumbered in every month from January to August 2024. The 10,576.00 of it was paid on 10/01/2024 with no encumbrance before it. The finding is here.
The FY2025 report certifies 187,000.00 encumbered at 06/30/2025, 162,000.00 for MOSAIC Rising Scholars and 25,000.00 that no program names. The 162,000.00 was paid on 09/15/2025. The abatement line shows no 162,000.00 encumbrance in any month before that payment. This project reads the monthly totals to mean the order was not carried as an open commitment at 06/30/2025. The finding is here.
Money in
The FY2025 report says the County received 436,698.00 from 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025. The trial balance for settlement reserve 2149623 shows deposits of 1,099,864.61 in that window. The report is 663,166.61 short. The finding is here.
Vehicles on a settlement line
On 05/27/2026 the County moved 100,000.00 of budget off the abatement line into a new opioid settlement line titled Replenish. The same day it encumbered 88,362.47 on that line on purchase order P214599, described as Vehicles, Including Automobile. The 2026 Detail Activity Report does not name the vendor, the vehicle or the department. No outreach or treatment program using a vehicle is documented. Vehicles are not among the uses Exhibit E lists. No program in the FY2026 report describes a vehicle. The finding is here.
FY2026
The FY2026 report covers 07/01/2025 to 06/30/2026 and was published 10/01/2026. It certifies 745,501.05 received, 135,326.99 of interest, 378,008.00 spent, 367,493.05 encumbered and 0.00 of administrative expense.
The spending figure ties. Every charge to the settlement lines in the window, voids netted, totals 378,008.00. Each program figure matches a set of payments.
| FY2026 program | Certified | Books |
|---|---|---|
| MOSAIC Rising Scholars | 162,000.00 | Purchase order P207333, 09/15/2025 |
| New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition | 131,253.64 | Two checks on P206187 and one check for two invoices on P212513 |
| Feeding Middlesex | 37,500.00 | Purchase order P214966, 06/18/2026 |
| MOSAIC Go Bags | 23,502.19 | Nine supply orders, voids netted |
| Adult Substance Abuse Program, Rutgers | 16,202.17 | Purchase order P214017, 04/16/2026 |
| Middlesex County Healthcare Kiosks | 6,050.00 | Kiosk payment 3,550.00 and stakeholder engagement 2,500.00 |
| The Black Poster Project | 1,500.00 | Old Bridge poster payment, 12/04/2025 |
| Blue Cares | 0.00 | No payment |
| Total | 378,008.00 | 378,008.00 |
Two things in it do not hold.
The encumbered figure is not a figure from the books. 367,493.05 is exactly the year's receipts, 745,501.05, less the year's spending, 378,008.00. The 2026 Detail Activity Report printed 06/18/2026 shows 662,670.53 encumbered on the settlement lines, 295,177.48 more. The open orders include the 88,362.47 vehicle order on the Replenish line. See Certified encumbrances equal to receipts less spending.
The FY2026 figures for the coalition and for Go Bags are right for FY2026. The FY2025 report had already counted 66,868.07 of the same payments, two kiosk checks of 32,813.42 and 32,813.39 and a 1,241.26 supply order, though all three were paid after 06/30/2025. Across the two reports that money is certified as spent twice. See Two reports count the same 66,868.07 of spending.
The litigation fees stay outside every report. The FY2026 report again answers the administrative expense question with 0.00.