{"id":1358,"date":"2014-03-04T13:47:02","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T21:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358"},"modified":"2014-03-05T11:21:24","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T19:21:24","slug":"feds-sprint-owes-government-millions-billing-court-ordered-wiretaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358","title":{"rendered":"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while complying with court -ordered wiretaps, officials announced Monday.<\/p>\n

The \u00a0lawsuit alleges that Sprint unlawfully inflated its charges by approximately 58%, causing federal law enforcement agencies to pay over $21 million in unauthorized costs from January 1, 2007 to July 31, 2010, federal prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs alleged, Sprint over billed law enforcement agencies for carrying out court-ordered intercepts, causing a significant loss to the government\u2019s limited resources,\u201d U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said. \u201cThis office will use all available tools to protect the public fisc, and we will continue to hold those who present false claims to the government accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprint spokesman John Taylor denied the allegations said the company \u201cwill defend this matter vigorously,” according to the San Francisco Appeal<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the law, the government is required to reimburse Sprint for its reasonable costs incurred when assisting law enforcement agencies with electronic surveillance. The invoices Sprint has submitted to the government fully comply with the law,\u201d Taylor told the San Francisco Appeal.<\/p>\n

Federal officials said in the complaint filed under the False Claims Act that they want treble damages and civil penalties along with reimbursement of expenses the government incurred in complying with court-ordered wiretaps, pen registers and trap devices.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In 1994, Congress passed the Communications Assistance in Law Enforcement Act or CALEA, which required telecommunications carriers to upgrade their equipment, facilities, or services to ensure they were capable of enabling the government to \u00a0intercept and deliver communications and call-identifying information.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2006, the FCC ruled that carriers were prohibited passing on the costs of its CALEA upgrades to law enforcement agencies in its intercept bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

From 2007 to 2010,Sprint included in its charges to the government the hidden costs of financing its CALEA upgrades, federal officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors said the claims asserted against Sprint are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while complying with court -ordered wiretaps, officials announced Monday. The \u00a0lawsuit alleges…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts","category-home-main-slider"],"yoast_head":"\nFeds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"398\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358\"},\"wordCount\":334,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/sprint-logo.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\",\"Home Main Slider\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358\",\"name\":\"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/sprint-logo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=1358#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/sprint-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/03\\\/sprint-logo.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":398},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps","description":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps","og_description":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":398,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps","datePublished":"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358"},"wordCount":334,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg","articleSection":["Courts","Home Main Slider"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358","name":"Feds: Sprint Owes Government Millions for Over Billing on Court-Ordered Wiretaps","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg","datePublished":"2014-03-04T21:47:02+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-05T19:21:24+00:00","description":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013\u00a0The U.S. Justice Department is alleging that Sprint Communications Inc. over billed the government for expenses it incurred while","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1358#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sprint-logo.jpg","width":800,"height":398},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1358"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1368,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1358\/revisions\/1368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}