EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Disabled Veterans Consultants (DVC) Inc. for allegedly defrauding veterans in Las Cruces.
DVC is being sued for allegedly violating the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, alleging that veterans were required to pay large fees for free benefits to a consulting company that falsely promised the ability to enhance benefits, according to the lawsuit.
“Our veterans have sacrificed and fought for our country and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect – not taken advantage of by businesses illegally seeking to make a profit off of their earned benefits,” Torrez said. “We are committed to ensuring that consumers in New Mexico are protected from these bad actors and this lawsuit is a reminder that our office will prosecute any individual or organization attempting to take advantage of our veterans to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to a testimonial on the complaint document, the company “misleads” veterans to believe DVC can speed up the process for disability benefits applications and contains several false testimonies, according to the lawsuit.
The New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ) received allegations from consumers and state partners that DVC had been pushing its services to veterans, despite not being licensed with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, DVC also required veterans to make their payments not to DVC but to their co-defendants Zeplin Global Group LLC, MJJL Holdings LLC and GTM Bookkeeping LLC.
The following are the NMDOJ’s complaints against DVC and its owners:
- Illegally offer consulting services they are not authorized to provide and in fact, should be free for veterans to access.
- Charge exorbitant fees for their services, which can include a percentage of the benefits acquired.
- Deceptively represent that they have the ability to speed up application processes for veterans’ disability ratings.
- Deceptively represent that they have the ability to acquire higher disability ratings in order to increase benefit payments.
In addition, the NMDOJ is requesting the following actions from DVC and its owners:
- Restitution: Full refunds to affected veterans.
- Permanent ban: Disabled Veterans Consultants, Inc. prohibited from operating in violation of state and federal law.
- Recission of contracts: Cancelling of all of Disabled Veterans Consultants, Inc.’s contracts.
- Civil penalties: Fines of up to $5,000 per willful violation of the UPA.
- Legal costs: Reimbursement of investigation and litigation expenses to the state.
Veterans who have paid for DVC’s services are encouraged to contact the NMDOJ through its website or by calling (505) 490-4060.
Read: Read More