Former President Ted Carter speaks with Lantern editors on Tuesday in his office. Credit: Carly Damon | Lantern File Photo
Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. has denied nearly every claim filed in a lawsuit against him, except for one of the most obvious — that he served as Ohio State University’s president.?
Carter also admitted to three other claims in the suit filed by Vet Mentor AI, an app developer? that in July claimed the former president intentionally disrupted its business relationships and purposely excluded it from business deals: his resignation date, that he attended a line worker rodeo and that he spoke at it.???
He denied 129 other Vet Mentor claims, including that he attended the rodeo with Kristhane Vlachos, a podcaster whom a university investigation identified as the person involved in an inappropriate relationship with Carter, which led to his sudden resignation in March.
This is the first time Carter has spoken on the allegations and lawsuit since he resigned.?
Carter also requested that the case be dismissed, that he be compensated for legal expenses and potential relief for “frivolious damage” incurred by the claims, according to court documents filed at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.?
Vet Mentor AI — which is also suing Ohio State, state agency JobsOhio, and Vlachos— claimed Carter blackballed the company to recreate its app, which is designed to help veterans find employment opportunities, benefits and other resources.?
According to Vet Mentor’s lawsuit, the company claims that it suffered more than $25,000 in damages, punitive damages, fees and costs all to be proven at trial.?
The lawsuit against Carter also claims that Vlachos said that she could get Carter to introduce her to Les Wexner, former chairman of the Wexner Medical Board, founder of LBrands, per prior Lantern reporting.
“Ms. Vlachos stated with certainty that she could get Mr. Carter to set up an introduction with Les Wexner, a significant and influential donor to OSU, and subsequent meeting with him to discuss Mr. Wexner’s potential purchase of the technology Vet Mentor was developing around the Vet Mentor AI platform, and as an option, if Wexner purchased Vet Mentor’s technology and/or Vet Mentor itself, at the time valued at $5-$6 million dollars, Mr. Hylenski [Vet Mentor’s founder and CEO] would stay on as Chief Technical Officer,” the complaint states.
Carter and his attorneys could not be reached for comment by publication. The university issued a brief statement.
“We will let the filing speak for itself,” Ben Johnson, a university spokesperson, said in an email. “Beyond that, we cannot comment on pending litigation.”
A university report, released in April, found that Carter’s inappropriate relationship with Vlachos led him to involve several top university individuals in schemes to help produce podcast episodes and further Vlachos’ personal business, according to prior Lantern reporting.
