Dish Network warns of SoftBank's ties to bribery

Dish Network is urging regulators to closely examine SoftBank's alleged ties to bribery as they review the Japanese cellphone carrier's bid to buy Sprint-Nextel.

Dish is pursuing its own competing proposal to buy Sprint. In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, Dish noted that Masayoshi Son, the founder and CEO of SoftBank, was chairman of the board of UTStarcom Inc (UTSI) from 1995 until 2003. During that time, UTSI illegally bribed Chinese officials for telecommunications contracts, according to the Justice Department. UTSI agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine to settle the Justice Department charges in 2009. According to the settlement, UTSI admitted that it paid for vacations for Chinese officials and improperly accounted for them as "training" trips.