Avaya Inc. announced May 10 that it has been subpoenaed for documents dating back to 1997 related to the federal government’s ongoing investigations of the E-rate program.
In its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the subpoena had been issued April 29 for a grand jury case at a federal district court in South Carolina. The company said federal prosecutors were looking at potential antitrust and other violations. The Justice Department recently indicted six companies for defrauding the program in connection with work in several school districts, including Jasper County, South Carolina, but Avaya was not named in those indictments.
Avaya had been a part of Lucent Technologies when the E-rate program began. In 2000, it was spun off from Lucent. More recently, Avaya acquired Expanets of North America. Over the years, the Schools and Libraries Division has approved direct funding commitments for SPIN numbers now controlled by Avaya that totaled more than $308 million. The company would have sold additional E-rate-supported equipment through resellers working with school districts.
The company also said it had received a separate subpoena on May 3 from the General Services Administration’s Office of Inspector General related to a federal investigation of its billing for telecommunications equipment and maintenance services. That investigation seeks records dating back to 1990.
