Three men were indicted for allegedly defrauding the FCC’s...
Three men were indicted for allegedly defrauding the FCC’s Lifeline program of $32 million, the Department of Justice said Thursday. The men, Thomas Biddix and Leonard Solt of Florida, and Kevin Cox of Tennessee, were charged with wire fraud, false…
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claims and money laundering. According to the DOJ, the three men submitted “falsely inflated claims” to the Universal Service Administrative Co. between September 2009 and March 2011. Their company, Associated Telecommunications Management Services LLC, fraudulently received more than $32 million, the indictment says. In a statement, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler applauded USAC, the Office of Inspector General, and the FCC’s Lifeline policy and enforcement teams for their “considerable contributions” leading to the fraud indictment. “We will not tolerate abuse of this program, and are gratified to see the results of our hard work to battle fraud,” Wheeler said. According to the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, ATMS “perpetrated a scheme to defraud the FCC and USAC” primarily by misrepresenting their number of verified qualifying customers. A federal court in Tampa authorized a seizure warrant seeking defendants’ “ill-gotten gains,” a DOJ news release said, including the contents of multiple bank accounts, a yacht and several luxury automobiles.