Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) on Wednesday accused the Internal Revenue Service of deliberately holding up $125 million owed to his state.
“For a long time we thought it was glaring incompetence,” Cuccinelli, who is running for governor, told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “But in light of the last month or two, we’re now beginning to wonder whether maybe there are more deliberate motives.”
The “last month or two” refers to the ongoing IRS scandal, in which the agency was found to have inappropriately screened and handled applications for tax-exempt status from conservative groups.
The money is Virginia’s claimed portion of a $1.5 billion Medicaid fraud settlement the government reached with Abbott Laboratories in May 2012. According to Cuccinelli’s office, Virginia’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit performed at least 80 percent of the investigative work, earning the $125 million share of the nearly $200 million asset forfeiture in the case. But federal officials have said, according to Cuccinelli’s office, that the IRS has refused to properly fill out post-case paperwork, holding up the payment. (In August 2012, federal officials told Cuccinelli his state would receive $95 million, not $125 million.)
“I have to openly wonder whether this is an intentional act to deny Virginia its asset forfeiture money,” Cuccinelli said.
