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RICHMOND -- Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will freeze more than $55,000 in campaign contributions he received last year from the director of a nonprofit veterans organization that is under investigation in Virginia and at least four other states.

Cuccinelli's campaign committee will put the funds in a separate, restricted account pending the outcome of an investigation of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, according to a statement issued Thursday evening.

Cuccinelli received three contributions totaling $55,500 last year from Bobby Thompson, the Florida-based director of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. The organization now is under scrutiny by officials at state and federal levels after news reports raised questions about its fundraising, its expenditures and the whereabouts of its leaders.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services initiated a probe late last month. The attorney general's office could become involved if the investigation leads to legal action.

Cuccinelli's political team also has been looking into the organization, according to the statement issued by Noah Wall, Cuccinelli's political director. Cuccinelli has been criticized by Democrats for holding on to contributions from Thompson after other state politicians, including Gov. Bob McDonnell, announced plans to donate smaller contributions from Thompson to charities.

"In recent weeks, the campaign has undertaken a concerted effort to clarify the nature of the USNVA and its charitable activities, including ongoing, unsuccessful attempts to make contact with several members of the USNVA board," Wall's statement said. "At this stage, the campaign has determined that the best course of action is to set aside the funds received from Mr. Thompson and await the completion of the ongoing investigation of him and the USNVA by the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs before taking further action."

In the statement, Wall said the campaign committee "reiterated that its understanding is that the donations in question were made from the personal funds of Bobby Thompson."

"However, if it is determined that funds were misappropriated from the USNVA to Bobby Thompson the campaign will donate those contributions to military support organizations here in Virginia," Wall's statement said.

Thompson was the second-largest individual donor to Cuccinelli's campaign before the November election. Cuccinelli, who raised a total of $3 million for his campaign, has said he received a $50,000 contribution from Thompson after talking to him by phone and asking for a donation.

Thompson also gave $12,500 to five other state politicians last year, including $5,000 to McDonnell. The U.S. Navy Vets group then lobbied for legislation this year that would allow it to solicit funds in Virginia without filing annual registration and financial reports with the state's consumer affairs department.

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, who received a $1,000 contribution from Thompson last year. Ticer said she never met Thompson and sponsored the legislation at the request of a lobbyist for the U.S. Navy Vets group. The legislation passed before the St. Petersburg Times in Florida published a series of stories that first raised questions about the group's legitimacy. Thompson is the only one of the organization's 85 national or state directors the newspaper could find, and he moved out of his Tampa duplex without leaving a forwarding address shortly after the newspaper questioned him.

After learning of the St. Petersburg Times stories, Ticer asked aides in McDonnell's office to veto the bill. But McDonnell's staff has said those concerns weren't communicated to the governor before he signed the bill.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services launched an investigation last month, citing concerns raised by news accounts of the association's activities in Virginia and other states.

Searches of public databases and directories by The Roanoke Times found no record of the group's state director, Allan Rosellini. Rosselini's name is listed on various documents the association has filed with the consumer agency, including a 2009 federal tax return. The address for the U.S. Navy Vets Virginia chapter is listed as a mailbox at a UPS store in Bon Air, a suburb of Richmond.

Authorities in Florida, Ohio, Missouri and New Mexico also have been investigating the association. Florida regulators announced this week that the group was unlawfully registered, having listed a UPS mail drop as its address and provided bogus addresses for its board members. Ohio's attorney general last month ordered the U.S. Navy Vets group to stop soliciting in the state, citing numerous violations of the state's registration requirements.

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the association. And after Webb raised concerns to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last month, the VA removed the association from the agency's online directory of veterans service organizations.