Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced on Oct. 28 that $1.2 million in restitution is going out to veterans who paid VetLink Solutions for help with VA disability claims. Her office expected to send the money that same week. The company charged some customers fees as high as $12,000.
Restitution is money returned to the people who paid, as opposed to a penalty paid to the state. The checks go only to veterans who bought VetLink’s services between January 2019 and March 13, 2024, and who filed a claim form by Sept. 10. That window has closed, so the payments are for people already on the list.
Who gets a check, and who to call if it does not come
A veteran who filed by the Sept. 10 deadline should watch the mail. Anyone who filed and has no check within 14 days of the announcement should contact the settlement administrator at 866-880-0070 or [email protected]. The attorney general’s VetLink page lists the same phone number and points to the claims website, AZAGVetLinkSettlement.com.
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Arizona veterans who bought the services come first under the consent judgment. Money left over goes to veterans in other states, the attorney general’s office said when it announced the deal in May. VetLink advertised nationwide, so its customers were not limited to Arizona.
The state has not said how many veterans are being paid or what each check is worth. A Newsweek report on the payments says hundreds of veterans are eligible, but the attorney general’s pages give no count, no per-person amount and no cash-by date for the checks. A veteran who receives one can ask the administrator how long it stays good.
What VetLink charged veterans
The attorney general’s office says VetLink Solutions, run by White Tanks Group LLC, advertised nationwide from 2019 through 2024. It promised veterans large increases in their disability benefits and offered help with their claims. State investigators say the company implied it could do work that only VA-accredited representatives are allowed to do.
VetLink also charged a contingency fee, which the office says is prohibited. The fee was tied to the increase in the veteran’s disability payments, and some customers were charged “sometimes as high as $12,000,” according to the state’s release.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs sent VetLink two cease-and-desist letters, the office says, and the company allegedly kept operating afterward. VetLink stopped doing business in 2024. “Veterans deserve trusted assistance, not deceptive sales tactics,” Mayes said in the announcement.
Veterans can get this kind of help without paying a contingency fee. The VA says accredited Veterans Service Organization representatives do not charge for help on a benefit claim, and that help is always free. Some accredited attorneys and claims agents take initial claims at no cost, but most wait until VA has decided the initial claim before charging a fee, according to VA’s accredited representative FAQ.
An attorney or claims agent can charge only after VA has made a decision on the initial claim, VA has received a fee agreement signed by the veteran and the representative, and VA has received a Form 21-22a naming that person as the veteran’s representative. The same page says to confirm that anyone offering help is accredited, and it points to VA’s online tool for finding a representative or a recognized veterans’ group.
How the $1.95 million is divided
The full settlement comes to $1.95 million. Besides the $1.2 million in restitution, $700,000 in civil penalties goes to the state’s Consumer Protection-Consumer Fraud Revolving Fund, and $50,000 covers the attorney general’s legal fees and costs. The state accused the company of violating the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.
A consent judgment was entered in June 2026 in Maricopa County Superior Court. It permanently bars the company from misleading consumers about its ability to prepare, present or prosecute VA benefit claims unless it has VA accreditation. The money then moved in steps: the deal was announced May 21, the office reminded veterans about the deadline on Aug. 27, and the payment announcement followed Oct. 28.
When the settlement was announced, the state said eligible customers did not have to file a complaint first. A claims administrator was to send postcards with instructions on how to file. That is how most of the veterans now being paid were supposed to hear about the claim form.
Veterans who never saw the claim form
The Sept. 10 deadline is the last date the attorney general’s office has published, and none of its pages offers a later one. In May, the office told veterans who think they qualify but never got a notice to contact the attorney general’s office. Arizona residents can also file a consumer complaint at azag.gov/consumer or call the office in Phoenix at (602) 542-5763, in Tucson at (520) 628-6648, or elsewhere in the state at (800) 352-8431.
What the attorney general has not said is how much each veteran will receive or when the checks stop being good. For now, the one number printed on the state’s VetLink page is the administrator’s line, 866-880-0070.
Waiting on a VetLink check?
A settlement check that comes with no published cash-by date is easy to set aside and forget. The administrator’s window for a missing VetLink check is only 14 days after the announcement, so a veteran who filed and hears nothing has a short stretch to make the call.
The Settlement & Refund Recovery System is a 50-page guide that includes a claim log and payment tracker, so the VetLink claim date, the check and any call to the administrator sit in one place. It also gives the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and a way to get an expired or uncashed settlement check reissued.
Get the tracker that logs the VetLink check and its 14-day follow-up call →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
