MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – The state jobs agency has filed a half-dozen lawsuits against businesses which have not paid back tax money loaned to them.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is reportedly trying to get back a total of $3.4 million.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said $1 million of that was loaned in 2012 to a businessman who had settled a federal lawsuit in Michigan, which alleged that he helped hide an associate’s assets from creditors.
Nine months before, a federal judge wrote that the suit had merit, and it showed what he called “the earmarks of fraud.”
In April, the WEDC filed suit in Dane County against Tim Flaherty and his Oconto County business North American Finishing, to try and get back what the agency loaned.
The episode was among a number of accountability issues raised in the WEDC, which Governor Scott Walker helped create in 2011. He recently stepped down as its board chairman.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
