GCI Communications Corp., Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, has agreed to pay $40.2 million to settle allegations by federal prosecutors that it violated the U.S. False Claims Act and competitive bidding rules.
The U.S. Justice Department had alleged that GCI knowingly inflated its prices in order to receive federal subsidies for its services in rural areas.
Former GCI Director of Business Administration Robert Taylor will receive $6.4 million as part of the settlement under provisions of a federal whistleblower law for his part in the case.
The allegations were in connection with the company’s participation in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Health Care Program. The program pays more than $570 million annually in subsidies to help rural health providers with telecommunications.
The subsidies are based on the difference in telecom service costs between rural and urban areas in the same state. FCC rules also require competitive bidding for the subsidized services.
Prosecutors alleged that between 2013 and 2020, GCI didn’t follow the rules on how to calculate prices, leading to the company getting more in subsidies than it was entitled to.
The prosecutors also said GCI caused rural health care provider Eastern Aleutian Tribes Inc. to agree to inflated prices after a contract was competitively bid. That also led to GCI knowingly getting additional higher payments, in this case from 2015 to 2018, according to the Justice Department.
“...
Park Filed Complaint Against President Lee Ahead of 2021 Election Jang Youngha Sentenced to One Year in Prison, Two Years Probation Confirmed The police have launched an investigation into Park Chu...