Rat Bastards

[link to www.dallasnews.com]

Guardian employed by VA accused of stealing from veterans
09:15 AM CST on Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON – When Shirley German couldn't get her son's guardian – an attorney handpicked by the Department of Veterans Affairs – to fork over $250 for Thanksgiving dinner for the disabled U.S. Marine and his family, she sensed something was wrong.

Her son, after all, had more than $200,000 in veterans benefits saved in accounts the guardian controlled.

That man, Joe B. Phillips, a 71-year-old Houston lawyer and former VA employee, now stands accused of stealing more than $2 million from at least 28 Texas veterans and hiding those thefts with faked bank statements, padded expenses and even imaginary accounts verified with forged signatures, according to dozens of lawsuits and a 2010 federal court indictment.

His 70-year-old wife and legal assistant, Dorothy Phillips, faces identical charges.

The alleged fraud appears to be the largest ever detected in the VA's enormous guardianship program.

Individual disabled vets lost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than $250,000.

German's son, Leland Spencer, 39, a Marine who nearly died of a crippling disease at a U.S. military base on Okinawa, and most other veterans have received only partial repayments from the VA so far. But his current attorney, one of the lawyers appointed to clean up the mess, predicts that all vets will be fully compensated as a result of court battles that continue in Harris and four other counties in southeast Texas.

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Ya just can't trust anyone anymore.