[Perdogg]

VA ping!

[COBOL2Java]

Eight months after a federal court approved a $1.5 billion Medicaid fraud settlement -- the second largest in U.S. history -- federal officials have yet to release any of the roughly $125 million owed to Virginia for being the lead investigator.

The Abbott Pharmaceuticals illegal marketing case was investigated for five years by the nationally known Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Officials have told the office that the Internal Revenue Service has refused to properly fill out post-case paperwork for almost a year, which is holding up the disbursement intended for Virginia law enforcement.

But the delay, which state officials say is unprecedented, has Cuccinelli wondering whether the problem is more about politics than completing paperwork.

...

Abbott paid the full amount of its settlement to the U.S. Treasury Department last October, but officials have since refused to release Virginia's portion of the settlement.