Blue Jay Wireless to Reimburse USF $2 Million to Settle FCC Lifeline Tribal Probe

reimburse USF about $2 million and undertake compliance measures, said an agency release Friday. "This settlement makes clear that no Lifeline provider should turn a blind eye to potential fraud on the program," said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. The bureau found the company incorrectly requested and received the extra tribal funding (up to $25 extra per subscriber monthly) for consumers not residing in the Hawaiian Home Lands, the release said. Despite being informed in 2014 by Hawaii state regulators that the number of tribal subscribers it was claiming appeared to exceed the number of households in the Hawaiian Home Lands, Blue Jay continued to seek tribal support while it gathered more information, it added. The consent decree said Blue Jay admitted that from May to August 2014, it certified that it obtained tribal certifications from some subscribers who were later determined by Blue Jay to be nonresidents of the Hawaiian Home Lands. Commissioner Ajit Pai said the settlement confirms Lifeline still contains waste, fraud and abuse: "I can confirm that Blue Jay Wireless is one target of my ongoing investigation and that I flagged further suspicious conduct for the Enforcement Bureau’s investigation earlier this year. I will continue to work with my colleagues, the Enforcement Bureau, the Inspector General, and the Universal Service Administrative Company to end the abuse of taxpayer money by unscrupulous wireless resellers." The commission last year sought public comment on whether to require additional evidence of tribal residency beyond self-certification and on how providers should provide proof in order to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, said the FCC release. Blue Jay said the settlement memorializes its process for verifying subscriber self-certifications, which included building its own geo-mapping tool. "USAC concluded that this process was 'conservative to the Fund' because FCC rules require only applicant self-certification," Blue Jay said in a statement. "The settlement also allows Blue Jay to make good on a prior commitment to 'make the Fund whole.'" CEO David Wareikis said that the carrier "made the commitment to make the Fund whole because it did not want to be seen as benefiting in any way from erroneous self-certifications made by subscribers." The agreement "contains no finding or admission of wrongdoing by Blue Jay, and affirms Blue Jay's good standing" as an eligible telecom carrier, he said. "The consent decree shows that Blue Jay took voluntary proactive efforts to protect against possible fraud and would never turn a blind eye to potential fraud in the program.”