Texas Company Pleads Guilty to Scamming Poor Schools on Funding Program

[Lou_C]

Texas Company Pleads Guilty to Scamming Poor Schools on Funding Program
The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A Texas company agreed to pay $20.6 million after pleading guilty to defrauding a federal program aimed at helping poor schools and libraries connect to the Internet.
NEC Business Network Solutions Inc., part of Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp., was charged in U.S. District Court with allocating contracts and rigging bids for the federal E-Rate program, which is funded by telephone users.

Prosecutors said the Irving-based company inflated bids and submitted false and fraudulent documents for reimbursement to the federal government for school projects in California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Besides a $4.7 million fine, the company will provide $15.9 million in cash and goods as part of the agreement.

The San Francisco Unified School District will get $3.3 million of the fine as whistleblower in the case.

"This conduct deprived the E-Rate program of fair and competitive prices, caused the program to pay for unnecessary and ineligible items, and as a result, prevented the funding of projects at other needy schools," said R. Hewitt Pate, assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division.

The E-Rate program gives money to schools and libraries so they can install Internet access.

"We made mistakes with E-Rate," said Gerald P. Kenney, general counsel of NEC America, the unit's parent company in Dallas. "We've acknowledged and accepted responsibility for those mistakes ... and taken action to ensure that these problems can't happen again."

AP-ES-05-27-04 2334EDT

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBFT2RQRUD.html

"Anyone got info on how much Mr. Kenney contributed to the Republicans Campaign?"

[Spinzonner]

1. Republican Thesaurus

Fraud = Mistakes

[demdave]

4. Are the Japanese Reps?

Follow the money.

[JaySherman]

2. Robbing children. There is no limit to how low corporate scum will go

to make a buck.

[Lou_C]

3. Leave no child behind

Behind what?

:shrug:

[sandnsea]

5. We charge our school 1/2 price

That's why us dumb stupid Democrats are broke I guess! Assholes, I just don't understand how you screw over a school.

[indepat]

10. It's easy when you are greedy and void of any scruples or even an ounce

of human kindness and decency. Avarice and greed will always prevail when predators are given a free hand, when government gets off the back of business and lets entrepreneurs to their things with free hands void of governmental interference or oversight. It's the rethug way.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Unfortunately, this is very common.

The private sector has always over-billed for products sold to education.

[TahitiNut]

7. Excellent for the San Francisco Unified School District!

[President Jesus]

8. I found these puke donations...

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=TX&last=Whigham&first=Bill

I don't know what positon this chump holds, unfortunately.

[0007]

9. The Secretary of Education Rod Paige

the man that set up the Texas School system before junior promoted the jackass to the Secretary of Education.


Another junior stooge

[Bozita]

11. and Bush wants to make America work "more like Texas"