For $100 million, telecom executive Issa Asad got money from a government program that gave low-income Americans cheaper phone and internet service.
Federal officials say that Asad stole that money for almost ten years by giving fake customer information to Lifeline, a program run by the Federal Communications Commission that has a lot of problems with fraud.
Police say that Asad, who is 51 years old, pleaded guilty to fraud on Tuesday for using his Florida-based phone company, Q Link Wireless Inc., to get over $600 million in government payments through the program. Prosecutors say that about $100 million of that amount was for false claims.
A second charge against Asad was theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 help, which he used to pay for building a new home in Florida, according to the prosecutors.
Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said, “Issa Asad and his company, Q Link Wireless, purposefully defrauded two important federal programs that help people and businesses who are having a hard time with money. They stole hundreds of millions of dollars for their own use and profit while stopping the United States from helping people who, unlike the defendants, needed it.”
Asad agreed to compensate the FCC for losses of $109.6 million and give up $17.5 million in assets as part of his plea deal. Asad could get up to 15 years in jail when he is found guilty in January.
A call left for Asad’s lawyer wasn’t answered right away.
The Lifeline program was started in 1985 to help Americans pay phone service and later broadband internet service. However, Congress has found that the program has had a lot of problems with fraud for a long time. It was found by the government accounting office that between 2014 and 2017, about 36% of all customers who made claims to the program weren’t qualified.
There were $2.8 billion in funds for the Lifeline program in 2024.
People who take part in the scheme can save up to $9.25 a month. People can get it if they get food stamps, Medicaid, or other government help or if their income is 135% or more below the federal poverty line.
There is a scheme where the government pays for the discount for telecom providers who can show proof that their customers meet the requirements and regularly use the services.
Prosecutors say that Asad’s company lied about its customers for years to get the aid because they needed to show that their phones were being used enough. According to the investigators, Q Wireless got $600 million from the program between 2012 and 2021. However, about $100 million of that was for false claims.
Records from the court show that Asad kept about $70 million of the money.
Prosecutors said that one of the things Asad did to make the fake claims look real was to threaten users that they would lose all their benefits if they cancelled the service, which was not true.
The company also lied about usage data by calling users over and over again using fake phone numbers to get them to answer.
Even after the FCC started looking into Q Wireless in 2014, officials say Asad kept sending in fake customer information to get paid back.
