UPDATE: The U.S. Treasury Department alerted Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli this afternoon that it would release $115 million due to Virginia for his office’s role as the lead investigator in the 2012 Abbott Laboritories Medicaid fraud settlement.
The $115 million comes from asset forfeiture money, which is required by federal regulations to be used for law enforcement purposes.
Previously:
Richmond, Va. – Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is saying that the Internal Revenue Service is holding up the release of about $125 million owed to the Commonwealth as part of a medicaid fraud settlement. Cuccinelli said his office earned the money by being lead investigator in the case, according to WTVR.
“They refuse, to date, refuse to fill out very basic paperwork so the money can be properly distributed,” Cuccinelli said at a Wednesday morning press conference.
The attorney general said he wants that money to go to police and sheriff’s departments that need equipment and to a fund for training prosecutors.
“During the eight months the Treasury Department has been withholding the money, they have been depriving Virginia law enforcement of tools to make their jobs safer,” Cuccinelli said. “The interest alone on Virginia’s share of the money in those eight months would have totaled more than a half million dollars. That interest could have purchased more than 1000 bulletproof vests for police officers and sheriffs’ deputies.”
The IRS has not yet responded to the attorney general’s statements.
