Department of Veterans Affairs Lost Over $300 Million in GI Bill Funds to Fraudulent Job Training at For-profit Trade Schools

One New Hampshire program received $2 million to teach veterans grass-growing, while another got nearly $18 million for fake rock-making classes. A Texas boot camp collected $72 million for a six-week HVAC course that left a student poorly trained. Barmak Nassirian of Veterans Education Success criticized the VA's oversight, saying, I always wondered why the mob stuck to drug dealing and organized crime.

Get into this racket. It's easier money. VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said the fraud was already adjudicated and blamed state agencies for lax oversight.

The worst case involved Jonathan Dean Davis, who founded Retail Ready Career Center in Garland, Texas, and enrolled over 3,500 veterans, charging up to $20,000 per student. Davis spent funds on luxury cars and strip clubs, was convicted in 2021, and sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison with $65 million restitution. The VA noted the $300 million loss was less than 0.3 percent of its education budget over a decade. is so fundamentally flawed that almost anything goes at any price.