National nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project sues Indiana veterans group

A national nonprofit organization designed to help veterans is suing a local Indiana veteran it claims is defaming the organization.

The complaint, entered on behalf of the Wounded Warrior Project, was filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday after Acton resident Dean Graham lambasted the group on an Internet website for his own nonprofit, Help Indiana Vets Inc.

“WWP is a fraud ... that needs to be investigated immediately,” Graham wrote in an undated post on his website, according to the lawsuit, which also claimed Graham said the organization has “an army of lawyers on staff to punish all those who try to expose [it].”

The complaint says Graham’s claims, including accusing the Jacksonville, Fla.-based group of not using its funding to help veterans, are false. The Wounded Warrior Project says the claims have driven some donors away.

Representatives for Wounded Warrior Project did not return calls and e-mails from The Indianapolis Star for comment.

The page on Graham’s website that denounces the Wounded Warrior Project includes several “donation” buttons for Graham’s own nonprofit.

Graham also compiled e-mails accusing the Wounded Warrior Project of fraudulent behavior, court documents say, and sent them out to state and federal government entities as well as media outlets such as Fox News, CNN and the Bob & Tom Show.

Graham’s allegations also appeared on several conservative media blogs, including Western Journalism and Coach is Right.

Graham said despite the official court filing he is standing by his claims. After the complaint was filed, Graham posted a notice on his website asking supporters to send money to a “legal fund’ for what he called the “fight of the century.”

Graham says the Wounded Warrior Project is a “for-profit” institution despite its nonprofit status and pays what he feels is too much money to its administrators while ignoring the needs of veterans. He backed up his claims by posting IRS Form 990s for the Wounded Warrior Project from previous years and said he had talked to several veterans that claimed to have been wronged by the program.

The Wounded Warrior Project files 990s under requirements set for a federally recognized nonprofit.

Help Indiana Vets is registered as a nonprofit in Indiana according to business records, but not on the federal level.

The Wounded Warrior Project said in its complaint its funding is primarily put toward physical rehabilitation and stress-reduction or depression programs for veterans. The group also distributes care items such as clothing, toiletries and playing cards to veterans staying in hospitals.

In 2011, the group took in almost $124 million in contributions of which 83 percent went toward its programs, according to the Better Business Bureau, a national nonprofit that ranks and accredits other nonprofits based on several factors. The 2011 statistics are the most recent the Better Business Bureau has recorded.

Four percent of those contributions went toward administrative salaries, according to the Better Business Bureau, which has accredited the Wounded Warrior Project.

Graham said he is still waiting to hear from the Wounded Warrior Project or the district court about the complaint. As of Wednesday, he had not received word from either entity that he was being sued.

Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis