The biggest FCC scam in US history

The former CEO of telecom company Q Link Wireless was sentenced to five years in prison for a massive $128 million fraud. He spent years embezzling funds from Lifeline, a government program for the low-income, by falsifying reports, pressuring customers and transferring tens of millions overseas.

Issa Assad, the founder and CEO of Q Link Wireless, ran the largest financial scam in the history of the US Federal Communications Commission. From 2012 to 2021, the company generated fake customer activity by submitting fake requests for compensation from Lifeline. They managed to keep users with scams, including automated voice messages threatening to lose Medicaid or Food Stamps.

• When the FCC began its investigation, Assad provided fake documents to hide the scheme. At the same time, he used other government programs, including the COVID fund, from which he also embezzled money. More than $50 million was transferred to bank accounts in Jordan.

• Lifeline is a federal program that has been subsidizing mobile and Internet services for low-income Americans since 1985. It is not funded directly by taxes; it comes from the Universal Service Fund, which is paid into by telecom operators. Q Link Wireless, a Florida company, was one of the leading providers of the service. After the scam was exposed, it ceased to exist, and its customers were absorbed by StandUp Wireless.

The case is a nationwide precedent that exposed deep flaws in the system of monitoring government subsidies. The Q Link Wireless scam is not only a fraud, but also a blow to social support programs that were supposed to protect the most vulnerable categories of the population. Now the FCC must strengthen inspections to prevent similar cases in the future.