Department of Justice
\nOffice of Public Affairs
\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nThursday, November 19, 2009<\/p>\n
Twenty-six Charged in Nationwide Scheme to Defraud the FCC\u2019s Video Relay
\nService Program
\nArrests Made in Nine States<\/p>\n
Indictments were unsealed today against 26 people charged with engaging in a
\nscheme to steal millions of dollars from the Federal Communications
\nCommission\u2019s (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program, announced Assistant
\nAttorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, Assistant
\nDirector of the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office Joseph Persichini Jr., Deputy
\nChief Postal Inspector Zane Hill, and FCC Chief of Staff Edward Lazarus.<\/p>\n
Arrests were made today by FBI agents and Postal Inspectors in New York, New
\nJersey, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Maryland,
\nand were the result of a joint FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS)
\nand FCC Office of Inspector General (FCC-OIG) investigation into a
\nnationwide scheme to defraud the FCC\u2019s VRS program.<\/p>\n
“The individuals charged in connection with today\u2019s operation are alleged to
\nhave stolen tens of millions of dollars from an important government program
\nthat is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with
\nhearing persons,” said Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division
\nLanny A. Breuer. “These defendants are alleged to have generated fraudulent
\ncall minutes by making it appear that deaf Americans were engaging in
\nlegitimate calls with hearing persons, when in reality, the defendants were
\nsimply attempting to steal money from an FCC program that is funded by every
\nsingle American who pays their telephone bills. The Department of Justice
\nwill not stand by and let corporate executives and others line their pockets
\nwith money that should be used to help deaf Americans.”<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, this remarkable service, designed to help those in need,
\nalso provided a growth opportunity for criminal activity that we believe has
\ncost American consumers tens of millions of dollars,” said Joseph
\nPersichini, Jr., Assistant Director of the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office.<\/p>\n
“When the U.S. Mail is used for the purposes of committing fraud, and in
\nthis case, a particularly insidious type of fraud, it\u2019s the job of the
\nPostal Inspection Service to aggressively investigate and ensure America\u2019s
\nconfidence in the integrity of its postal system,” said Deputy Chief Postal
\nInspector Zane M. Hill.<\/p>\n
“Today\u2019s events represent both a tragedy and an opportunity,” said FCC Chief
\nof Staff Edward Lazarus. “The tragedy is the unfortunate truth that a
\nsignificant number of unscrupulous individuals, at great cost to the nation,
\nhave preyed on a very important program for delivering essential
\ntelecommunications services to persons with hearing disabilities. The
\n\u2018opportunity\u2019 is the chance to reiterate our commitment to the VRS program
\nand to follow through on efforts, already begun at the FCC, to safeguard the
\nprogram against further waste, fraud, and abuse and to improve its delivery
\nof VRS services to consumers.”<\/p>\n
The indictments allege that 26 individuals engaged in a scheme to defraud
\nthe FCC by submitting false and fraudulent claims for VRS calls, causing the
\nFCC to reimburse the defendants at a rate of approximately $390 per hour.
\nAccording to the indictments, VRS is an online video translation service
\nthat allows people with hearing disabilities to communicate with hearing
\nindividuals through the use of interpreters and Web cameras. A person with a
\nhearing disability who wants to communicate with a hearing person can do so
\nby contacting a VRS provider through an audio and video Internet connection.
\nThe VRS provider, in turn, employs a video interpreter to view and interpret
\nthe hearing disabled person\u2019s signed conversation and relay the signed
\nconversation orally to a hearing person. VRS is funded by fees assessed by
\ntelecommunications providers to telephone customers, and is provided at no
\ncost to the VRS user.<\/p>\n
The indictments charge owners and employees of the following seven
\ncompanies with engaging in a scheme to defraud the FCC\u2019s VRS program<\/p>\n
* Viable Communications Inc., of Rockville, Md.;
\n* Master Communications LLC, of Las Vegas;
\n* KL Communications LLC, of Phoenix;
\n* Mascom LLC of Austin, Texas;
\n* Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Interpreting Services Inc. (DHIS), of New
\nYork and New Jersey;
\n* Innovative Communication Services for the Deaf Corp. (ICSD), of Miami
\nLakes, Fla.; and
\n* Deaf Studio 29 of Huntington Beach, Calif.<\/p>\n
Each of the indictments alleges that the defendants made, caused others to
\nmake, or processed fraudulent VRS calls that were then submitted to the FCC
\nfor reimbursement. These calls, often referred to as “r calls,” “rest calls”
\nor “run calls,” served no purpose other than to generate call minutes that
\nwould be billed to the FCC\u2019s VRS Fund.<\/p>\n
In the first indictment, Viable Communications Inc. and four Viable
\nexecutives have been charged with fraudulently generating VRS call minutes
\nand obtaining reimbursements from the FCC for those calls. Viable owner and
\nCEO John Yeh, 62, of Potomac, Md.; Viable Chief Operating Officer Joseph
\nYeh, 64, of Potomac; Viable Assistant Vice President Anthony Mowl, 25, of
\nRockville, Md.; and Viable Human Relations Director Donald Tropp, 25, of
\nRockville, have been charged in a six-count indictment with conspiracy to
\ndefraud the U.S. government and to submit false claims; submitting false
\nclaims; conspiracy to commit mail fraud; and mail fraud.<\/p>\n
In the second indictment, Master Communications, KL Communications and
\nMascom owners and employees have been charged with generating fraudulent VRS
\nminutes. According to the indictment, these companies operated VRS call
\ncenters for Viable that generated and processed a large volume of fraudulent
\nVRS calls, which were then submitted to the FCC\u2019s TRS Fund Administrator for
\nreimbursement. Master Communications, KL Communications and Mascom owner and
\nemployee Kim E. Hawkins, 46, of Las Vegas; Master Communications employee
\nand KL Communications owner and employee Larry Berke, 62, of Phoenix; KL
\nCommunications employee Dary Berke of Phoenix; KL Communications and Master
\nCommunications employee Lisa Goetz, 43, of Phoenix; and Mascom Marketing and
\nAdvertising Director David Simmons, 43, of Austin; have been charged in a
\nsix-count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and to
\nsubmit false claims; submitting false claims; conspiracy to commit mail
\nfraud; and mail fraud.<\/p>\n
In the third indictment, DHIS owners and employees have been charged with
\ngenerating and processing a large volume of fraudulent VRS calls. According
\nto the indictment, DHIS operated VRS call centers for Viable that generated
\nand processed fraudulent VRS calls. DHIS co-owners Irma Azrelyant, 47, of
\nBasking Ridge, N.J., and Joshua Finkle, 41, of New York; DHIS video
\ninterpreter Natan Zfati, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; DHIS bookkeeper Oksana
\nStrusa, 35, of Jersey City, N.J.; DHIS video interpreter Alfia Iskandarova,
\n29, of Brooklyn; and DHIS video interpreter Hennadii Holovkin, 36, of
\nPhiladelphia; have been charged in a six-count indictment with conspiracy to
\ndefraud the U.S. government and to submit false claims; submitting false
\nclaims; conspiracy to commit mail fraud; and mail fraud.<\/p>\n
In the fourth indictment, ICSD owners and employees have been charged with
\ngenerating and processing a large volume of fraudulent VRS calls. According
\nto the indictment, ICSD operated VRS call centers for Viable that generated
\nand processed a large number of fraudulent VRS calls. The indictment also
\nalleges that ICSD owners and employees engaged in sham “marketing calls” for
\nthe stated purpose of marketing VRS services, but for the alleged true
\npurpose of fraudulently generating additional VRS minutes. ICSD co-owners
\nYosbel Buscaron, 25, and Lazaro Fernandez, 35, both of Hialeah, Fla.; ICSD
\ncall center manager Wanda Hutchinson, 35, of Pembroke Pines, Fla.; ICSD call
\ncenter manager Jessica Bacallo, 23, of Miami; and ICSD marketing manager
\nKathleen Valle, 23, of Miami; have been charged in a six-count indictment
\nwith conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and to submit false claims;
\nsubmitting false claims; conspiracy to commit mail fraud; and mail fraud.<\/p>\n
In the fifth indictment, defendants Benjamin Pena, Robert Z. Rubeck and
\nTamara Frankel have been charged with generating fraudulent VRS calls.
\nAccording to that indictment, Pena was allegedly paid by Viable owner and
\nCEO John Yeh to generate fraudulent VRS minutes. Also according to the
\nindictment, Pena allegedly paid Rubeck and Frankel to make VRS calls for the
\npurpose of generating those fraudulent minutes. Pena, 34, of Scottsdale,
\nAriz.; Rubeck, 34, of Surprise, Ariz.; and Frankel, 28, also of Surprise;
\nhave been charged in the six-count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the
\nU.S. government and to submit false claims; submitting false claims;
\nconspiracy to commit mail fraud; and mail fraud.<\/p>\n
Deaf Studio 29 owners and employees have been charged in a sixth indictment
\nwith generating fraudulent VRS calls. According to the indictment, Marc
\nVelasquez Verson, Ellen Thompson and Doris Martinez allegedly organized and
\npaid employees to use a particular VRS provider to make run calls. That
\nprovider would pay the defendants approximately 20 to 25 percent of the
\nmoney the provider received from the FCC for the calls generated by the
\ndefendants. Velasquez, 56, of Oswego, Ore.; Ellen Thompson, 43, of Lake
\nOswego, Ore.; and Doris Martinez, 51, also of Oswego; were charged in the
\nsix-count indictment with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and to
\nsubmit false claims; submitting false claims; conspiracy to commit wire
\nfraud; and wire fraud.<\/p>\n
All of the indictments seek criminal forfeiture from each of the charged
\ndefendants.<\/p>\n
An indictment is merely an accusation, and defendants are presumed innocent
\nunless proven guilty.<\/p>\n
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Hank Bond Walther and
\nTrial Attorney Brigham Cannon of the Criminal Division\u2019s Fraud Section, with
\nthe investigative assistance of the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office, USPIS and
\nFCC-OIG.<\/p>\n