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Six Arrested In Payroll Project Fraud In NYC

NEW YORK (AP/WCBS 880/1010 WINS) -- Four city consultants and the wife and mother of one consultant have been charged with defrauding New York City of $80 million through a project that was supposed to save money by consolidating payroll records.

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The defendants were charged with conspiracy in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday. Authorities said the payroll program was supposed to cost a total of $63 million when it was started in 1998. They say it had cost $628 million by September, with only a little over a third of its intended user population using it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was a "major fraud perpetrated on city taxpayers." He said investigators told him the city would likely recover most of the money.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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