WASHINGTON, Nov. 4, 2025 – A decade-old whistleblower case over allegedly fraudulent telecom subsidy claims is finally headed to trial.
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AT&T, which maintains its claims under the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program were lawful, had tried to have the case dismissed this summer. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, denied that request in an Oct. 29 order.
That will send the case to trial, which a spokesperson for whistleblower’s law firm said was scheduled for Jan. 20.
The case, first filed in 2008, stems from telecom auditor Todd Heath’s claims that AT&T overcharged schools participating in E-Rate, which provides discounts on internet bills. He sued under the False Claims Act, which mandates triple damages for fraudulently obtaining government cash.
After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled in February that funding for E-Rate, part of the $8 billion-per-year Universal Service Fund, was provided in part by the government and allowed the case to proceed.
The unanimous decision was narrow though, and justices didn’t rule on whether all USF money was government money for the purposes of the FCA. The program is funded by fees on telecom companies, but a relatively small amount of debts and penalties collected by the Justice Department pass through the Treasury on their way to the fund, and justices said that, at least, was government cash.
Lawyers for both AT&T and...
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