Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
November 19, 2009 United States Attorney's Office
District of Columbia
Contact: (202) 514-7566

Twenty-Six Charged in Nationwide Scheme to Defraud the FCC’s Video Relay Service Program

Arrests Made in Nine States

WASHINGTON—Indictments were unsealed today against 26 people charged with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Joseph Persichini Jr., Deputy Chief Postal Inspector Zane Hill, and FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus.

Arrests were made today by FBI agents and Postal Inspectors in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Maryland and were the result of a joint FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and FCC Office of Inspector General (FCC-OIG) investigation into a nationwide scheme to defraud the FCC’s VRS program.

“The individuals charged in connection with today’s operation are alleged to have stolen tens of millions of dollars from an important [b]government program that is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with hearing persons,â€