- A bipartisan coalition of 44 AGs wrote a letter to Congressional leaders urging the passage of the Governing Unaccredited Representatives Defrauding (GUARD) Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefits Act, which is intended to hold accountable unaccredited and unregulated actors who target and prey upon veterans applying for federal VA benefits.
- The letter explains that federal law requires anyone assisting veterans in applying for benefits be properly accredited through the VA Office of General Counsel, but that criminal penalties for violating that requirement were removed in 2006. The AGs assert that since that time, unaccredited actors have proliferated throughout the VA benefits claims system at all levels, and warn that such actors may target veterans even more frequently due to the recent passage of the PACT Act, which expands VA health care and benefits for certain veterans.
- The AGs urge Congress to reinstate criminal penalties for unaccredited, predatory actors who target veterans for financial victimization, through the passage of the GUARD VA Benefits Act.