some of New Jersey's most vulnerable residents are being prayed on by the very system designed to help them that according to a scathing new report by the state Commission of Investigation revealing widespread fraud and corruption in the addiction recovery industry which the report says has ballooned into a multi-billion dollar business the 106 page investigation cites unchecked abuses by so-called professionals the owners and operators of these businesses who were accused of caring more about profits than getting their clients clean and sober as senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan reports the investigation Chronicles how the fraud and wrongdoing were found at every stage of the recovery process sometimes starting as early as an overdose victim's Hospital bedside I mean this devastated my family we're still feeling the effects of it in every way I can't even tell you I mean it it shattered us Nicole Di Maria says her sister sister Georgine struggle to find treatment dragged their whole family down a dark rabbit hole into the addiction recovery industry a business she says prioritized profit over patients D Maria testified before the state Commission of Investigation about her family's Nightmare and welcomes the agency's call for reforms more transparency more accountability um looking into these owners and and their backgrounds yeah all really crucial stuff we have these criminals and hiding in plain sight that they should be going after Elsa tyy who's in recovery recognizes the abuses outlined in the seci report it revealed widespread fraud unethical conduct and wrongdoing were found in businesses at every stage of the recovery process with millions of dollars squeezed out of desperate families tyrany wants lawmakers to Target so-called body brokering people that are praying on um families with private insurance and getting them into treatment centers just so they can make a profit it does and it doesn't matter if the treatment center is a good fit for the person they don't care they just want to get you in so they can get a kickback companies are involved in patient brokering corporations we also found nonprofits involved in uh patient brokering Sober Living homes seci Council Lisa celino says state law bars patient brokering by individuals but the FCI report recommends Banning it industrywide and increas inreasing fines from the current 10,000 to at least $50,000 other reforms include creating strict licensing standards and oversight for so-called peer recovery coaches setting tougher rules for licenses Financial Audits and criminal background checks at treatment centers and cracking down on sober homes particularly unlicensed ones that cram recovering clients together maybe some are okay but a lot of them we saw you know bad drug use issues um bad living conditions a bunch of people packed into one room the sober homes are overseen by DCA Community Affairs and um it doesn't seem like you know that's currently effective DCA responded stating we are aware of and reviewing the report and take any allegations of Fraud and ethical misconduct seriously we don't have further comment at this time seci chair Tiffany Williams Brewer says the clock is ticking we're striving to shine a light uh on this issue particularly in light of the level of funding uh that is being dedicated uh now in our state to the addiction and Rehabilitation industry more than a billion dollars in opioid settlement monies headed to New Jersey the seci doesn't want it poorly spent we saw some egregious examples of failure to protect some of the most vulnerable in their time of need we saw instances of of of greed we saw instances of impropriety we saw dangerous behavior that could leave those who were seeking to get healing to leave worse than when they came in di Maria's sister succumbed to her illness her fames urging lawmakers to enact the reforms that might have saved her life this is a devastating disease and people really need to St start treating it that way and not looking upon it with shame I'm Brenda Flanagan Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight NJ Spotlight News