The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit against Sprint, alleging the company overcharged for wiretapping services by $21 million.
Carriers are required to assist the government and must maintain certain types of equipment to do so. Carriers are allowed to bill the government for the upkeep of that equipment. In this particular case, San Francisco U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag is charging Sprint with filing false claims during the period between January 2007 and July 2007, inflating costs by as much as 58%. Carriers are not allowed to use the maintenance money to improve their network or other equipment.
“Because Sprint’s invoices for intercept charges did not identify the particular expenses for which it sought reimbursement, federal law enforcement agencies were unable to detect that Sprint was requesting reimbursement of these unallowable costs,” said the government. Sprint denies the charges and says all its invoices comply with the law. It will defend itself vigorously.
Sprint is also facing a separate tax case in New York state, where the state says Sprint failed to collect enough taxes from customers.
