Recommendation 1 of 3 - We recommend that the Wireline Competition Bureau direct the Universal Service Administrative Company to recover the amount of $934,300 disbursed on behalf of UTA in funding year 1999.
Here is a brief excerpt from the conclusion of the Inspector General's report:
…Recommendation 1 of 3 - We recommend that the Wireline Competition Bureau direct the Universal Service Administrative Company to recover the amount of $934,300 disbursed on behalf of UTA in funding year 1999.
Recommendation 2 of 3 - We recommend that the Wireline Competition Bureau take steps to ensure that funding requests are adequately reviewed in accordance with existing program rules and implementing procedures to ensure that funding requests associated with these areas of noncompliance with program rules and regulations are not approved.
Recommendation 3 of 3 - We recommend that the Wireline Competition Bureau review those program rules and implementing procedures governing the areas of noncompliance cited in this report to ensure that those program rules and implementing procedures are adequate to protect the interests of the fund.…
Satmar did not repay the money, largely because the program regulations did not contain a specific deadline for appropriately using the money it received from the FCC. So even though it was almost four years after it was given the money for the computer technology, Satmar was able escape repayment.
Worse, it was still able to get E-rate money – even though its students are forbidden to have Internet access and their schools have only token access, if any at all.
In other words, Satmar has taken millions of dollars to fund a program it really doesn't have, and the FCC – despite this Inspector General's report – has allowed Satmar to get away with it.
Why?
Aside from what probably are political reasons, the FCC really has no clear idea what is going on with the hundreds of millions of dollars it disburses for this program – money we all pay to the FCC through a tax on our phone service.
Every time you you pay your phone bill, remember that the extra tax you're paying is funding a Satmar scam – a scam being replicated, allegedly, by several other hasidic and haredi schools.
Here it is as a PDF file:
Download United Talmudical Academy FCC OIG Report E-rate Fraud 2004 watermarked