AI company sues disgraced former Ohio State president, the university itself, and JobsOhio after the scandal
A Maryland-based app creator has filed lawsuits against people and organizations connected to the JobsOhio scandal that led to the resignation of former Ohio State University President Ted Carter.
Vet Mentor AI, which created an app to connect veterans with benefits, education, and job opportunities, named Carter, podcaster Krisanthe Vlachos and her company VetEarnUSA, as well as economic development group JobsOhio and the university, in the lawsuit.
In its complaint, the company said the defendants sidelined it from a proposed statewide veterans services project after a dispute over the app’s ownership, and then tried to develop a similar platform without using Vet Mentor AI’s help.
The AI company filed separate complaints on June 26 in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and the Ohio Court of Claims.
According to the suits, Carter and Vlachos worked with Ohio State officials to build a platform “mirroring” Vet Mentor’s technology once the business ties ended.
“On January 23, 2026, in an effort to continue OSU’s involvement with Ms. Vlachos and develop technology mirroring Vet Mentor’s underlying and newly-developed technology, Mr. Carter sent an email to Ms. Vlachos and OSU’s Shereen Agrawal, Director of OSU’s Center for Software Innovation, and Mr. Lowden, copying Mr. Kabourek, to set up a meeting to discuss mirroring Vet Mentor’s platforms and use it to make OSU ‘the most Veteran-friendly university in the U.S.,’” Vet Mentor AI said in its complaint.
Vet Mentor also accused JobsOhio of defamation, alleging that the agency lied to business contacts and the media, which negatively affected the company’s technology, even though the company had previously received positive reviews and had been offered funding from others.
“Following Mr. Carter’s resignation on March 7, 2026, JobsOhio personnel published multiple defamatory statements against Vet Mentor in writing and through numerous electronic, written, visual, internet, and other national and international media sources, including media within Ohio and in England, New York, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia, and elsewhere, and continues to publish defamatory statements against Vet Mentor in the same manner through the present, which directly and proximately caused and continues to cause reputational harm to Vet Mentor,” Vet Mentor AI said in its complaint.
Vet Mentor also accused Ohio State of defamation, intentional interference with business relationships, and negligent hiring, supervision, and retention.
“OSU acted negligently by failing to perform its due diligence, failing to act on employee reports about his relationship with Ms. Vlachos and Mr. Carter’s actions, looking the other way and/or siloing adverse information, not following university protocols, and/or minimizing and ignoring Mr. Carter’s actions,” Vet Mentor AI said in its complaint.
Even though the Vet Mentor app was never Vlachos’s intellectual property, the document stated that she had previously demanded to become CEO with a 25% ownership stake and control over communications with key stakeholders.
After the company rejected the offer, Carter and Vlachos allegedly blocked the company from accessing the decision-makers. JobsOhio allegedly continued to urge the company to accept Vlachos’s deal.
The company is seeking damages, attorney fees, and other relief.
Carter resigned from his position on March 7 after admitting to an “inappropriate relationship” with Vlachos. Ohio State later released a detailed report based on interviews with 60 people and thousands of documents, concluding that Carter had used his position to help Vlachos with her app, podcast, and even tried to get her a job at the university.
