Tampa grand jury accuses phone company owners of $32 million fraud

The universal service charge, one of those pesky fees on phone bills, is supposed to subsidize phone lines for rural or impoverished Americans.

But a new federal indictment says it also paid for a private jet, a 28-foot boat and six luxury cars for a trio of phone company owners accused of defrauding the federal Lifeline program out of more than $32 million.

Leonard Solt, 49, of Land O'Lakes (FL), Thomas Biddix, 44, of Melbourne (FL) and Kevin Brian Cox, 38, of Arlington (TN), all face federal criminal charges. A recently unsealed grand jury indictment in Tampa alleges that the three men overstated the number of poor clients served by five corporately linked companies that did business as American Dial Tone, Bellerud Communications, BLC Management, LifeConnex Telecom and Triarch Marketing.

Federal Communications Commission spokesman Mark Wigfield said the companies offered low-cost mobile phone service -- in some cases at a rate that was entirely offset by the subsidy. They are no longer certified to operate in Florida, after a parent company failed to pay most of a $4 million fine in a 2011 settlement negotiated with the Public Service Commission that also related to Lifeline claims.