Veteran's Club founder convicted of improperly taking unemployment benefits

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The founder and CEO of Louisville nonprofit Veteran's Club was convicted by a federal jury of stealing government benefits.

After a 5-day trial and two hours of deliberation, the jury in Frankfort found Jeremy Harrell guilty of theft of government benefits on Friday.

In a news release Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Harrell, 43, "intentionally stole money" from the U.S., specifically U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs Individual Unemployability (IU) disability payments "he was not entitled to receive."

Harrell started receiving IU benefits in 2011. In 2019, he founded Veteran's Club, Inc., which works to help veterans with everything from housing assistance, vocational training, to emotional hearing from war. As the founder and CEO, he remained highly active in the nonprofit through 2023.

But it's that work that got Harrell in trouble with the federal government.

The evidence presented at trial indicated that Harrell worked 40-60 hours per week running the nonprofit, organizing events, managing over $400,000 in assets and about 6,000 volunteers, doing interviews with news agencies and podcasts, speaking at community events, teaching classes, accepting donations and more.

Prosecutors said "this evidence confirmed that Harrell, as the active and successful founder and CEO of Veteran's Club, could maintain substantial gainful employment," leaving him ineligible for the benefits he received between 2019 and 2023.

In addition, officials said Harrell made "numerous false statements to the government about his daily life and work activities, depicting himself as withdrawn, without the ability to perform work ... when in truth, he was an active and successful CEO of a vibrant organization."

Prosecutors argued Harrell "made these false representations to the government to depict himself as unemployable, conceal his active role as CEO of an organization, and attempt to continue to receive IU benefits."

In total, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Harrell wrongfully received $108,000 in IU benefits.

Harrell is set to be sentenced on Dec. 9. He faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.

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