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The Federal Communications Commission should be investigated for allowing employees to own shares in Comcast, Charter, AT&T and Verizon, the nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center told government officials.
“Federal law specifically prohibits FCC employees from owning ‘stocks, bonds, or other securities’ [any company] It’s heavily regulated by the commission,” the nonprofit said last week in a letter and detailed report sent to FCC Deputy Inspector General Sharon Dickin. Company stock of telecommunications companies and other companies that appear to be prohibited. ”
The letter, sent by Campaign Legal Center General Counsel Kedrick Payne and two other attorneys in the group, said to the FCC’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that “the FCC’s ethics officer is committed to enforcing ethics law.” Ethics officers in charge of law enforcement told the OIG and the public that employees disclosed shares in FCC-approved telecommunications and computer companies. You must explain why you allowed it to be held in violation of the law.”
The Campaign Legal Center report cites its latest financial disclosure report covering the 2018-2019 Ajit Pai chairmanship, citing that FCC official Rosemary Harold has invested in Comcast shares worth between $3,003 and $45,000. said to own. Harold was the FCC Enforcement Director at the time, and now he is the Deputy Director of the FCC Media Division. The report also said former FCC employee Lisa Horn, who was deputy director at the time, owned her shares in Charter Communications between $4,004 and $60,000.
Horn and former FCC Chief Information Security Officer Andrea Simpson own AT&T shares, and the combined AT&T holdings of the two employees are between $2,203 and $31,001, the report said. increase. Harold and former Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger reportedly owned his Verizon stock worth between $7,007 and $105,000. The wide range in stock prices is due to how employee shareholdings are reported on financial disclosure forms.
Carriers got away with false reports in 2019
The FCC has a solid track record of punishing internet providers. In December 2019, the FCC decided not to penalize Verizon, T-Mobile, and US Cellular for exaggerating 4G coverage in their official government filings, but FCC staff noted that “mobile broadband coverage Exaggeration can mislead the public and misallocate limited universal service funds.” , and therefore must be filled with meaningful results. ”
While the FCC chairman and commissioner make the biggest policy decisions, FCC staff are responsible for investigations and play a major role in enforcement.
According to recent reports, Comcast and other ISPs sent fake coverage data to the FCC’s new and improved broadband map system. Comcast initially claimed that the fake data was accurate, even after residents challenged addresses where they couldn’t order Comcast’s Internet service. Comcast wouldn’t admit the mistake until we reported it, but an FCC spokesperson said the appeals process was working as intended.
The FCC says it has “multiple ongoing” investigations into data submitted by ISPs, but it’s not clear if Comcast or other providers will be penalized for false reporting.
The FCC’s most important regulatory role is telecommunications, but the Campaign Legal Center also raised concerns about FCC employee ownership of shares in Dell, Garmin, HP, IBM and Sony. . “FCC laws and regulations dictate that the above shares held by FCC employees fall into two categories subject to share ownership prohibition: telecommunications companies and FCC-licensed computer companies. ‘ said the report.
The group said all nine shares “appeared to have been held by FCC officials in violation of the Communications Act. Either FCC ethics officials issued a waiver or stated that the clear language of the regulations did not apply to the shares. If so, the analysis must be made public to help restore confidence in such waivers or lawful agency ethics programs.” The FCC Chairman and Ethics Officers Laws related to share ownership must be enforced, the group’s report said.
