AT&T and Feds Disagree on Whether Government ‘Provides’ USF Money

AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell last recently reiterated its argument to the Supreme Court that telecommunications companies should not be hit with tougher fines for fraudulent reimbursement requests to a major broadband subsidy program. The company is seeking to overturn a Seventh Circuit ruling that found the False Claims Act applies to reimbursements from the E-Rate program, a broadband subsidy for schools and libraries funded by the $8-billion-per-year Universal Service Fund. The act calls for damages tripling the amount of fraudulently obtained government money, plus mandatory civil penalties. “What matters under the FCA is that requests for money supplied by private carriers to a private corporation pose no risk of loss to the government,” Wisconsin Bell wrote in an Oct. 24 reply brief.