Q Link CEO Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for USF Fraud and Money Laundering
Q Link Wireless CEO Issa Asad was sentenced to 60 months in prison Friday after pleading guilty to fraud tied to the FCC’s Lifeline program (see 2410160029). Asad and Q Link also pleaded guilty to money laundering through the COVID-19-era Paycheck Protection Program. Q Link agreed to pay a fine of more than $109 million, and Asad and Q Link jointly will pay a separate $109 million in restitution to the FCC.
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"Issa Asad and his company … deliberately scammed two vital government programs aimed at supporting people and companies in economic distress, wrongfully diverting hundreds of millions of dollars for their personal benefit and gain, all while impeding the government's capacity to assist those who genuinely required the help," DOJ said. "These outcomes underscore our resolve to make sure that those who mastermind corporate fraud schemes face personal consequences.”
Asad and Q Link engaged in “multiple tricks” to mislead the FCC about how many people signed up for Q Link’s Lifeline phones and to keep customers from leaving, DOJ said. They “manufactured non-existent cellphone activity and engaged in coercive marketing techniques to get people to remain Q Link customers,” DOJ said.
Defendants manufactured data after learning of an FCC investigation, the government said. Asad and Q Link made and provided false records to the agency “to conceal the scam and to continue collecting reimbursement.” With the help of others, they “simply manufactured cellphone activity on behalf of Q Link customers who were not using their cellphones.”