Texas Attorney General Shuts Down Veterans Charity

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has closed down the Veterans Support Organization (VSO) as a settlement from legal action. According to a news release from Paxton's office, VSO collected more than $2.5 million in Texas between 2010 and 2012. But an investigation found 70 percent of the money went to VSO's Florida headquarters and to Rhode Island, where the group was incorporated.

A lawsuit was filed in Travis County against VSO and its directors in March of 2014. Through that legal action it was discovered VSO had told Texas donors the money would go to help local veterans with a work program and housing. But the work program was merely structured panhandling and the housing program was simply a room rental where veterans who worked for VSO had to pay rent to the organization or face eviction.