Two for-profit schools overcharged the Department of Veterans Affairs by failing to report tuition waivers and scholarships provided to GI Bill students from 2015 to 2022, prosecutors said in a complaint filed Feb. 27, 2024 in U.S. district court in central Florida. (Joshua Magbanua/U.S. Air Force)

Two for-profit schools in Florida are accused in a civil lawsuit filed this week by the U.S. of overcharging for GI Bill funds in a scheme that the government says aggressively courted veterans.

The New Horizons schools in Tampa and Orlando, which provide weekly training sessions in coding and information technology, face allegations of violating the False Claims Act and unduly enriching themselves.

In the lawsuit, prosecutors did not submit an estimate of how much was overcharged.

From 2015 to 2022, the schools offered scholarships to veterans who enrolled and then billed the Department of Veterans Affairs for the full price of tuition, prosecutors said in the complaint, which was filed Tuesday in U.S. district court in Orlando.

The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays tuition and fees as well as stipends for books and housing to veterans and troops based on a sliding scale of active-duty service. The scale ranges from 40% of tuition up to 100%.

The two schools in Florida would recruit veterans who were less than 100% eligible for tuition assistance, provide them a scholarship to cover the difference and then charge the government for the full price, the complaint said.

To encourage aggressive recruiting of GI Bill students, the schools also paid unlawful incentive compensation to admission staff in violation of Title 38, a federal code which covers veterans benefits, the complaint said.

Schools are prohibited from offering commissions, bonuses or other incentive payments based on student enrollment. The intent is to prevent schools from recruiting as many students as possible without regard for their ability to complete their coursework.

Emails from management and veterans career advisers at the schools included phrases such as “Let’s all CA$H in!!!!” and “Let’s have a BIG DAY!!!! CA$H IN!!!!,” the lawsuit states.

The complaint names Robert J. Remington, the owner of the companies LTJ Group V and Innovak of Florida. The companies did business as New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, according to the complaint.

The two schools received a memo in 2015 recommending that they look at their recruiting practices to ensure compliance with the law, the government said.

In 2020, a few months after the U.S. subpoenaed New Horizons for information related to GI Bill compliance, Remington renamed the admissions contests while attempting to reassure staff that nothing was really changing, prosecutors say.

The school’s chief operating officer, who was unnamed in the complaint, acknowledged that New Horizons still held contests for admissions representatives enrolling GI Bill students, but “we just don’t call it that,” according to an email included in the complaint.

New Horizons in Tampa and Orlando did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.