Friday December 5, 2025
Local Connection
Weather
Traffic
@LouisvilleDispatch
@LouisvilleDisp
Subscribe
Attorney General Andy Beshear announced that his office assisted in shuttering the doors of a charity that misled thousands of donors by claiming contributions supported local veterans.
The settlement between 24 states and VietNow National Headquarters Inc., which also uses the name VeteransNow, dissolves the Illinois-based nonprofit corporation.
The agreement resolves thousands of deceptive solicitation violations and requires the charity’s directors and officers to cooperate in investigations into their professional fundraisers.
An example of the organization’s conduct is reflected in their most recent financial statement, when VietNow reported raising nearly $2 million nationwide with less than 5 percent of funds going to charitable programs.
Beshear said he is thankful the action comes at Veteran’s Day because the agreement ensures any remaining funds from VietNow’s closing will go to two national and well-respected veterans’ charities – Fisher House Foundation and Operation Homefront.
“It is a disgrace to falsely use veterans and veteran causes to lure in donors,” Beshear said. “My office will continue to work to stop scammers and frauds, especially those who try to take advantage of those who have sacrificed to serve our country.”
Beshear’s Office of Consumer Protection reports that up until the settlement VietNow had five ongoing promotions in Kentucky, and has had 16 campaigns since it first registered in the state in 2007.
The agreement states that since March 2015, VietNow was raising money using deceptive telemarketing solicitation scripts.
The charities professional fundraiser, Corporations of Character, called potential donors and wrongly claimed the charity gave a minimum of 12 percent, after expenses, back to local veterans.
Other scripts falsely claimed that VietNow provided medical facilities and treatment to veterans.
The investigation into VietNow for misrepresenting its charitable programs to donors began in 2017 by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
In response to the investigation, VietNow admitted that it had not funded any programs that assisted veterans in Michigan and did not have local programs in most other states.
Attorneys General in California, Illinois and other states also launched an investigation into VietNow, which led to Kentucky’s involvement and the present negotiated resolution.
Beshear also reminds Kentucky donors who are not familiar with a charitable organization and how they use their money to verify what percentage of their income goes to the charity’s purpose on CharityNavigator.org. Additional research tools and resources can also be found on the Attorney General’s website.
Last year, Beshear’s office was involved in the largest joint enforcement action ever brought by state charity regulators. Joining with the Federal Trade Commission, agencies from all 50 states, the office helped to conclude a settlement that dissolved two sham cancer charities and banned the leader from future nonprofit work.
In accordance with the proclamation by United States President Donald Trump, and with respect for those who lost their lives in the Las Vegas massacre, Governor Matt Bevin has directed both American and state flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff beginning immediately until sunset on Oct. 6 to honor the victims and their families.
“What happened in Las Vegas was the handiwork of unadulterated evil in its vilest, most despicable form,” said Gov. Bevin. “Kentucky stands in solidarity with the citizens of Las Vegas and with all Americans in defiance of any act of terrorism against the citizens of our country. Today, and in the days to come, we will give thanks for the quick, decisive acts of first responders that prevented further tragedy. We mourn the lives that were lost, and we will honor their memory. We will pray for the families and friends of those who lost loved ones, and for those recovering from injuries sustained as the tragedy unfolded. We will not allow fear to rule our hearts—evil will not triumph against us. United we stand. Divided we fall.”
Gov. Bevin encourages individuals, businesses, organizations and government agencies to join in this tribute of lowering the flag to honor the victims and families of the Las Vegas shooting.
Attorney General Andy Beshear today joined with 33 attorneys general to send a letter demanding that Equifax take immediate steps to strengthen customer protections and improve services to the nearly 143 million people impacted by the massive data breach.
“I share Kentuckians frustration surrounding this data breach and that is why I am asking Equifax to move quickly to alleviate unnecessary confusion and improve customer service,” said Beshear. “The victims of a data breach should never have to pay to freeze their credit, nor should they have to face inadvertently signing up for a costly program instead of the free service.”
In the letter, Beshear demands Equifax stop using its own data breach as an opportunity to sell services to victims, and specifically requests the company disable fee-based credit monitoring services and reimburse customers for any fees they have paid to other credit reporting agencies for a credit freeze.
Beshear said in the wake of the data breach, Equifax is asking customers to visit their website where they can enroll in a free credit monitoring service – yet, the website also offers customers a fee-based credit monitoring service, thereby causing confusion and creating the potential for a customer to incur unnecessary fees.
General Beshear has demanded that Equifax resolve this issue by disabling information that leads to the fee-based services until the sign-up period for the free service has ended.
Beshear said Equifax has also agreed to waive credit freeze fees for customers, but the other two credit bureaus, which are not responsible for the breach, Experian and Transunion, continue to charge fees. The attorneys general are asking Equifax to take steps to reimburse consumers who incur these fees as a result of the breach.
The letter also relays consumer complaints expressing difficulty locating the Equifax breach hotline number and long wait times reaching customer service. In response, the AGs ask Equifax to properly staff the hotline and make it available 24 hours a day.
Earlier this week, Beshear issued a Scam Alert to help make Kentuckians aware of the Equifax data breach, and provided instructions on how to sign up for the free credit monitoring service and guidance on how to avoid and respond to identity theft.
Beshear wants Kentuckians to know that his office will continue to monitor the company’s response and asks Kentuckians to take immediate steps to closely monitor their credit and report any suspicious credit activity to his office’s Security Breach hotline, 855-813-6508.
Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell previewed the annual publication of delinquent child support obligors Thursday that will be printed in The Courier-Journal on Sunday, September 17 and available online the same day.
The office’s Child Support Division has collected a total of $15.2 million, sent wage withholding orders to 11,450 employers and found 18,911 new addresses that are directly attributable to the lists printed each year since 2005. This year’s theme is “Get in the Game. When Adults Pay, Kids Win.”
“Everyone in Jefferson County can get in the game and help track down those who are not fulfilling their obligation to their children,” O’Connell said. “Please contact my office if you know the address or the employer of someone on this year’s delinquent child support list.”
Starting Sunday, this year’s list of 1,473 names can be found online at www.louisvilleky.gov/countyattorney. Only 506 names appear in the printed insert, with this year’s focus on cases with an outstanding child support warrant.
“Each person on my child support staff is committed to connecting kids and families to the money that is rightfully theirs,” O’Connell said. “Outstanding warrants clog our courts, frustrate families and, most importantly, may cut off support to deserving children.”
Child support collection offers a strong return on investment of public dollars. For every $1 spent, federal child support programs collect $5.25. In Kentucky that figure rises to $6.45 for every $1 spent.
Anyone with information that could help locate someone on the list should call the Jefferson County Attorney’s child support tip line at (502) 574-0821, go online to www.louisvilleky.gov/countyattorney or visit the office at 315 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.
2017 Delinquent Child Support Fact Sheet
- Names in Insert and on Website: 1,473
- Insert: 506
- Total arrearage for Insert and website: $57,058,297.73
- Highest Male arrearage: $232,521.47
- Highest Female arrearage: $61,262.96
Females (232) make up 15.75 percent of the list this year’s list, compared with 84.25 percent for males (1,241)
Insert History
Eleven previous annual inserts have collected a total of $15.2 million
General Child Support Information for Office of the Jefferson County Attorney
- 146 Child Support employees
- 15 attorneys
- $65+ million collected last year (17% of state’s total collections)
- 55,629 open cases
- Only office in the state with a dedicated cash window, located at 315 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd.
- Only office in the state with child support detectives (eight).
Authority: KRS 405.411
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ designee under KRS 205.712(6) for…
the administration of child support may compile a list of the names of persons under its jurisdiction who have a child support arrearage that equals or exceeds six (6) months without payment, or fails, after receiving appropriate notice, to comply with subpoenas or warrants relating to paternity or child support proceedings as provided by 42 U.S.C. sec. 666(a)(16). The cabinet may furnish this list to the newspaper of general circulation in that county for publication.
General Criteria for Both Lists
Each year the theme and/or dollar amount will change but the following criteria is used on a yearly basis.
- Child support arrearage that equals or exceeds 6 months without a payment
- Open IV-D case (a person has applied for our services)
- Obligor is not incarcerated
- The case is not pending closure
- The obligor does not receive Supplement Social Security Income (SSI) as far as we know
- At least one of the obligor’s cases has been audited
- Mother and child reside in Jefferson County
For 2017, Obligors in the printed insert have an outstanding child support warrant and a delinquency of at least $1,000.
In the wake of the U.S. Department of Education calling into question federal Title IX protections, Attorney General Andy Beshear firmly stated his office will continue to seek justice for survivors of campus sexual assault, even if the federal government will not.
Yesterday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos delivered remarks indicating that the department may not be as aggressive in fighting campus sexual assault and protecting survivors.
In response, Beshear said that his office is committed to maintaining protections for survivors of campus sexual assault, while working to increase reporting, investigations and prosecution of the crime.
“I have made seeking justice for victims of campus sexual assault a top priority for my office,” said Beshear. “Campus sexual assault is a grave and real threat to students’ safety – and I want survivors to know that my office will continue to stand up for their rights and fight to preserve Title IX protections.”
According to statistics, nearly 1 in 5 women on campus will be a victim of sexual assault, and the FBI estimates that between 92 and 98 percent of reports of rape are truthful. Yet, victims face many barriers in being believed, reporting sexual assault and finding justice.
Under Title IX, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights’ current guidance instructs colleges on how to respond to and address sexual assault incidents. The guidance requires the appointment of a Title IX coordinator, mandatory reporting by responsible school officials and the implementation of procedures for handling investigations and hearings.
In a July letter, Beshear and 19 other state attorneys general asked federal education officials to work with them before rolling back protections for survivors of sexual assault on college campuses.
A core mission of Beshear’s is to seek justice for victims of sexual assault and his Office of Victims Advocacy has been at the forefront of this effort in Kentucky.
Over the past year, the office collaborated with the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs to create the #VoiceofJustice video contest to raise awareness for the sexual assault hotline, 800-656-HOPE, and promote reporting and active bystanding.
The office is also providing trainings for campus and community groups, prosecutors and investigators on seeking justice for victims of campus sexual assault, including criminal, civil and administrative rights.
The office also created a Survivors Council, which includes survivors of different crimes including individuals who have survived campus sexual assault, to directly advise and assist the office on matters related to victims of crime, including training, awareness and policy initiatives.
Beshear’s office is also working to increase transparency in the reporting of sexual assault on Kentucky’s college campuses.
Beshear said students and survivors of campus sexual assault should know they are not alone and that his Office of Victims Advocacy is here to help.
To contact the Office of Victims Advocacy call 502-696-5320 or email Executive Director Gretchen Hunt at Gretchen.Hunt@ky.gov.
Attorney General Andy Beshear issued a Scam Alert today to help make Kentuckians aware of the Equifax data breach, and provided tips on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.
Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit-reporting agencies, recently announced a major data breach that could affect about 143 million American customers.
Equifax has indicated that from mid-May through July of this year hackers gained access to customers’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses and some driver’s license numbers. Credit card numbers of about 209,000 consumers, and personal information in credit file dispute documents for about 182,000 consumers were also accessed.
Beshear said the Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Protection is investigating the events surrounding the data breach, including the company’s response and the protections being offered to affected Kentuckians.
“Kentuckians who may be involved should take immediate steps to closely monitor their credit, and report any suspicious credit activity to my office,” said Beshear.
The Office of the Attorney General is asking Kentuckians who might be impacted by the breach to follow these steps to help protect against identity theft:
- Check to see if your information was compromised. Verify if your personal information was impacted by visiting the Equifax website, equifaxsecurity2017.com.
- Sign up for the free credit monitoring service. Equifax is offering a free year of TrustedID Premier credit file monitoring and ID theft protection for all U.S. consumers, whether or not their information was impacted. To sign up for the protection service, visit equifaxsecurity2017.com or call 866-447-7559, which is open every day, including weekends, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern time.
- Follow the Identity Theft Toolkit. The Office of the Attorney General’s online Identity Theft Toolkit provides systematic instructions on how to respond to possible identity theft. The toolkit includes information on how to place a credit report fraud alert, order credit reports and other helpful resources and contact information.
- Report suspicious activity. Contact the Attorney General’s data breach hotline, toll free at 855-813-6508 if you are a victim of a data breach or identity theft.
As part of Beshear’s effort to protect Kentucky families from scams, fraud and identity theft he launched Scam Alerts – the state’s first direct text and email scam notification system.
Kentuckians have recently received Scam Alerts on Hurricane Harvey scams, IRS scams Targeting Western Kentuckians and a scam targeting Kentuckians’ generosity to veterans.
To stay up to date on new and trending scams Kentuckians should sign up to receive Scam Alerts from the Office of the Attorney General. To enroll text the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.
County Attorney Mike O’Connell is supporting a high-tech approach to curbing habitual drunk drivers with the rollout of Jefferson County’s new Continuous Alcohol Monitoring Program (CAMP).
Under the new initiative, prosecutors in O’Connell’s office will request that all repeat offenders for driving under the influence (DUI) wear alcohol-sensing anklets for varying periods of time to ensure that they aren’t drinking. The anklets, produced by SCRAM Systems, automatically test a subject’s perspiration every 30 minutes for alcohol consumption.
The 24-hour monitoring is designed to help individuals address their alcohol issues and reduce the chances that they will reoffend. The Jefferson County Attorney’s office will also recommend CAMP for certain alcohol-involved domestic violence cases and for first-time DUI offenders with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or greater that also have an additional serious aggravating factor. Aggravators would include multi-vehicle crashes or those that involve bodily injury or death, a driver under the age of 21, or having a minor-age child in the car at the time of arrest.
In addition to keeping roads safer from impaired drivers, O’Connell stressed the focus on rehabilitation with CAMP.
“The use of this alcohol-sensing technology can absolutely save lives,” O’Connell said. “This is an effort to use the accountability of the courts as a path toward sobriety. The longer a person is able to stay sober, the greater the chance that they will not commit a DUI or other alcohol-involved crime.”
Depending on the case, CAMP might be recommended while a defendant is awaiting trial, entered as a condition of a plea agreement, or both. The program could also conceivably cut city costs by allowing certain offenders to avoid jail days if they agree to continuous monitoring and demonstrate that they take their offense—and their alcohol misuse—seriously and are addressing the issue.
Offenders will pay for the monitoring with planning in place to help people who are indigent and cannot afford the costs. Monitoring costs nationwide average $10-12 a day. SCRAM Systems claims that former clients have self-reported spending on average about $14 per day on alcohol prior to wearing the bracelet. The office of the Jefferson County Attorney receives no money from the program.
Jurisdictions across the country have had success using SCRAM technology and continuous alcohol monitoring. York County, Pennsylvania reduced pretrial recidivism for drunk drivers by more than 90 percent. The district attorney in San Diego County, California–using monitoring guidelines similar to what is planned in Louisville–has saved taxpayer dollars by reduced jail overcrowding and seen earlier intervention for alcohol misuse.
Monitoring technology and services will be provided locally by Bluegrass Monitoring, which has monitored more than 9,200 individuals through similar efforts in the region as Ohio Alcohol Monitoring Systems.
Seminars are set for August 14-16 at the Louisville Bar Foundation to educate members of the local legal community, including judges and members of the defense bar, about the program.
CAMP is the latest tactic that O’Connell has promoted that uses the leverage of the court system to have a positive impact on addiction. His office has been instrumental in forming and supporting the Jefferson County’s Drug Treatment and Veterans’ Treatment Courts, and he has supported the use of Casey’s Law in Kentucky, which allows parents, spouses and others to seek the court’s assistance to order their loved one into treatment for drugs or alcohol.
BY THE NUMBERS
- According to Kentucky’s Administrative Office of the Courts, Jefferson County has averaged 4,260 charges of DUI each year since 2011. In 2016, there were 2,383 total DUI charges in Jefferson District Court and more than 22 percent (528) were repeat offenses.
- In 2016, 835 people in Kentucky died as a result of car crashes. The Commonwealth saw more than 4,200 collisions involving alcohol last year, resulting in more than 1,900 injuries and 119 alcohol-involved fatalities.
- On average, a DUI can cost a person $10,000 in attorney fees, fines and court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance rates, car towing and repairs etc. Based on 2010 data from NHTSA, impaired driving crashes cost the United States more $44 billion each year.
- SCRAM Systems has monitored nearly 600,000 people with the technology that will be used in Jefferson County, and on any given day, 99.3 percent of individuals are sober and fully compliant with their monitoring.
