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Government Sues Sprint For Surveillance Fees

Eric Parra |
March 4, 2014 | 8:16 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

Sprint vs the government, who should win? (wikimedia/creative commons)
Sprint vs the government, who should win? (wikimedia/creative commons)
And you thought your roaming charges were a hassle.

The United States government filed charges for treble damages and civil penalties against Sprint regarding the False Claims Act. Sprint Communications Inc. has allegedly been overcharging the government to carry out court-authorized wiretaps and related surveillance.

From The Recorder:

“Sprint inflated its bills to law enforcement agencies for wiretaps, pen registers and trap devices by 58 percent, running up more than $21 million in added costs to the government, according to a complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Sprint and other carriers are permitted to bill law enforcement agencies for the costs they incur complying with court-ordered surveillance. Sprint continued to include those charges in its bills to the government from 2007 to 2010, according to the complaint in U.S. v. Sprint, 14-962.” 

According to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, “Sprint overbilled law enforcement agencies for carrying out court-ordered intercepts, causing a significant loss to the government’s limited resources.” It is also alleged that Sprint submitted false claims to the FBI, DEA, and various other agencies. No lawyers have been entered for appearances on their behalf.

Read the full article here

 

Reach Executive Producer Eric Parra here.



 

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