| Thomas Kennedy Pleads Guilty to Defrauding E-rate |
| September 10, 2007 | |
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The US Department of Justice (DoJ) recently reported that Thomas Kennedy has pleaded guilty "…to his participation in a scheme to defraud Southwestern Bell Communications ("SBC") and the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") in connection with the E-Rate program…"From 2001-2004 Kennedy and two others received hundreds of thousands of dollars through their scheme and Kennedy will be sentenced on November 8th. He faces up to 23 years in prison and a fine of up to $350,000. The Hartford, New London, New Haven and Bridgeport school districts were all affected by this. On a related note, USAC audited SNET's FY 2000 E-rate activities and were found to be in compliance with E-rate rules and regulations.Funds For Learning has catalogued hundreds of FCC and USAC audits in order to educate E-rate stakeholders on various compliance issues.E-rate Manager subscribers can click on "tools" and then search the audit database to find applicants who have been "compliant", "generally complaint" or "non-compliant". One of Funds For Learning's goals is to promote the E-rate program and enhance its status for all E-rate stakeholders.To help facilitate this objective FFL developed E-rate University (ERU).ERU is a series of Trainings on Demand and assessment test to educate E-rate stakeholders on the process, ever-changing regulations and compliance issues.ERU is constantly accessed by both applicants and service providers to validate the knowledge and skill level of those participating in the E-rate program. The US. DoJ Press Release can be found at http://newhaven.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2007/nh082407.htm. The USAC SNET audit can be viewed here. |
