A company accused of defrauding veterans trying to apply for federal benefits agreed to pay $2 million to settle a consumer fraud lawsuit brought by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, but Mayes said the state still needs to do more to protect veterans.
From 2019 to 2024, VetLink offered to help veterans navigate the disability claims process for a fee, according to the lawsuit.
That in and of itself may not be a crime, even though VetLink was not accredited by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Mayes said.
But the lawsuit accused the company of using deceptive and misleading sales tactics to convince veterans to sign up. That includes claiming it could offer services that can only be performed by organizations accredited by the VA, such as preparing disability claims on behalf of veterans.
Mayes claimed the company's scheme amounted to fraud against veterans in Arizona in violation of the state’s consumer protection laws.
“My office will not allow companies to exploit veterans who are simply trying to access the benefits that they bravely earned,” she said.
As part of the settlement, VetLink’s founders did not admit wrongdoing.
The alleged fraud
In 2022, the department sent VetLink co-founder Gerard Rodriguez a cease and desist letter informing him that he was not legally allowed to prepare claims on a veteran's behalf.
“The VA also advised Gerard Rodriguez that VetLink Solutions’ business practice of charging a fee for its services without being accredited or without complying with additional requirements was unlawful conduct,” according to the lawsuit.
The VA sent a second cease and desist letter in 2023.
But Mayes alleged the company continued to offer those services in Arizona and other states until March 2024.
Mayes also accused the company of charging inflated fees for those services, equal to five times the benefits increase they received from the VA.
“And that's upwards of as much as $20,000 taken out of these veterans pockets,” she said.
The Arizona Department of Veterans Services also employs counselors who provide free help for individuals trying to apply for benefits, said Director John Scott.
The Legislature ‘needs to do something’
Mayes called on the Arizona Legislature to pass more robust laws targeting bad actors like VetLink. Currently there is no law explicitly prohibiting unaccredited businesses from offering to help veterans navigate the benefits bureaucracy.
“I will continue to go after the bad actors, but really this Legislature needs to do something about this,” she said.
Rep. Stacey Travers (D-Phoenix), an Army veteran, has twice sponsored bills in recent years that would have created state rules for consultants providing benefits assistance, including requiring those businesses to be accredited by the VA.
Travers said those state level protections would supplement federal laws, which she said do not have enough teeth.
But she said the third-party businesses offering those services also have lobbyists at the Legislature fighting to create laws allowing them to operate freely.
“And so what is trying to be done preemptively is to try to create something at the state level that will allow for the protection or the not protection of veterans, depending on who's dropping the bill,” Travers said.
Travers said only one of her bills received a hearing at the Legislature but was amended to remove the VA accreditation requirement at the behest of industry lobbyists.
“I clocked what was happening, and I looked over at the committee chair and said, ‘this just basically guts the bill,’” she said. “And he kind of sheepishly looked at me and said, ‘yes, it does.’”
In the meantime, Mayes said veterans looking for assistance should only work with accredited organizations or the state’s Department of Veteran Services, which offers free help.
But the department only has 60 benefits counselors on staff in a state that is home to around 500,000 veterans.
Rep. Aaron Marquez (D-Phoenix), an Army veteran, said that has been used as a talking point by lobbyists at the state Capitol who advocate for bills on behalf of unaccredited third-party companies that offer benefit claims services.
“We should absolutely fund the Department of Veteran Services more, so that you have more veteran benefits counselors … but veterans should not be paying $12,000 or $20,000 to access their benefits,” Marquez said.
The settlement
Under the settlement, Rodriguez and his co-founders agreed to pay $1.95 million. Of that money, $1.2 million will be used to provide restitution to eligible veterans who used those services.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, a claims administrator will send a postcard to VetLink customers to notify them of their eligibility.
Another $700,000 will be deposited into the Consumer Protection-Consumer Fraud Revolving Fund, which is used for a variety purposes, including consumer education and paying some salaries in the attorney general’s consumer fraud division.
Mayes said she will ask lawmakers, who oversee the fund, to allow her to use that $700,000 to hire an attorney and paralegal to focus on scams targeting veterans.
Julia Romero Gusse, an advisor at the VA under former President Joe Biden, said that ongoing funding is needed because similar operators continue to target veterans.
“They're renaming, rebranding and still doing the same crimes,” Romero Gusse said.
According to a press release, VetLink was acquired by a company called REE Medical in June 2024.
That company offers to help veterans “strengthen your VA claims with independent medical evidence” by connecting veterans with doctors who can document their conditions, according to its website.
A disclaimer at the bottom of the website discloses that REE Medical is not accredited by the VA and “does not provide legal or medical advice or assist clients with preparing or filing claims for benefits with the VA.”
REE Medical did not respond to questions about whether VetLink executives still work with the company.
The settlement bars VetLink founders from offering to prepare benefits applications for veterans in the future without first obtaining VA accreditation.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Rep. Stacey Travers' name.
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