Q-Link Wireless CEO Faces Prison Time and $100 Million Fine for Lifeline Fraud
Q Link Wireless CEO Issa Asad faces years in prison and a fine of more than $100 million after pleading guilty to fraud tied to the FCC’s Lifeline program. Asad also pleaded guilty to money laundering through the COVID-19-era Paycheck…
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Protection Program. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Wednesday welcomed the guilty pleas. Dania Beach, Florida-based Q Link offers coverage throughout the U.S. Asad and Q Link “engaged in multiple tricks designed to mislead the FCC about how many people were actually using Q Link’s Lifeline phones, and to prevent customers who did not want the phones from ending their relationship with Q Link (which would have prevented Q Link from billing the program for them),” said a DOJ news release: “The Defendants manufactured non-existent cellphone activity and engaged in coercive marketing techniques to get people to remain Q Link customers.” Asad admitted that he received approximately $15 million from Q Link as a result of the fraud. Asad’s plea agreement includes a joint recommendation that he serve the statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison on the fraud charge, the DOJ said. The statutory maximum sentence on the money laundering charge is 10 years. “Asad’s exact sentence will be determined by the Court after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” DOJ said. U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz set a sentencing hearing for Jan. 15. “Deceptive schemes that exploit at-risk communities and manipulate federal support for phone and broadband services should not go unpunished,” Rosenworcel said. Asad and Q Link “purposefully defrauded two critical federal programs helping individuals and businesses suffering financial hardship, unlawfully taking hundreds of millions of dollars for their own use and profit, while obstructing the United States’ ability to help people who, unlike the Defendants, needed it,” said Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.