He ought to be on a panel next year. He could give a class in his to "leverage" government funds to better serve your customers and yourself
On Thu, Oct 22, 2015, 3:26 PM Adam Moffett <[email protected]> wrote: > Seems like the government might want to scrutinize the ownership of > vendors of funding recipients. It ought to send up a red flag when they're > buying lots of things from themselves. > > > On 10/22/2015 4:17 PM, Eric Kuhnke wrote: > > Sounds like this guy it for everyone. > > > Since 2002, Sandwich Isles Communications has collected $242,489,940 from > the federal > Universal Service Fund to serve no more than 3,659 customers. > 2 > During that same time, Albert Hee, the > owner of Sandwich Isles’s parent company Waimana Enterprises and affiliate > ClearCom, apparently used > the company as his family’s personal piggy bank. For example, the > companies apparently paid $96,000 > so that Hee could receive two > - > hour massages twice a we > ek; $119,909 for personal expenses, including > family trips to Disney World, Tahiti, France, and Switzerland and a four > - > day family vacation at the > Mauna Lani resort; $736,900 for college tuition and housing expenses for > Hee’s three children; > $1,300,000 for > a home in Santa Clara, California for his children’s use as college > housing; and > $1,676,685 in wages and fringe benefits for his wife and three children. > 3 > That’s not all. When the FCC last looked at Sandwich Isles’s corporate > expenses, our staff found > tha > t it was spending $5,460,973 more on corporate operations each year than > similarly sized companies, > with significant management and leasing fees to affiliated companies (like > Waimana and ClearCom) that > benefited Hee and his family. > 4 > On top of all that, sev > en years ago, Sandwich Isles dropped a $1.9 > - > million > - > a > - > year lease it had with > an independent undersea cable network in favor of a $15 > - > million > - > a > - > year lease for a cable network built by > ClearCom and owned by Paniolo LLC. > 5 > Unsurprisingly, Paniolo is itself ow > ned by Blue Ivory LLC, > which is wholly owned by Blue Ivory Hawaii Corporation, which in turn is > owned by private trusts of > Hee’s three children. > 6 > What is worse, Sandwich Isles appears to no longer be paying what it owes > to > Paniolo > — > yet is still collecting > payments from other rural telephone companies as if it were. > > > On Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 1:14 PM, Steve <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Already trying to control the money. This is why we opted out of getting >> involved in any form of Government program. It just allows them to keep >> their fingers up your ass and use you as a puppet. >> >> >> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/isps-reminded-to-not-use-government-money-for-alchohol-and-vacations/ >> >> Internet service providers who accept government funding in exchange for >> providing Internet access in rural areas were "reminded" this week that >> they're not allowed to use the money for food, alcohol, entertainment, >> personal travel, and other expenses unrelated to providing Internet access. >> >> The Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice with a >> "non-exhaustive list of expenditures" that cannot be reimbursed. The list >> includes all of the above as well as political contributions, charitable >> donations, scholarships, payment of penalties and fines, club membership >> fees, sponsorships of conferences and community events, gifts to employees, >> and personal expenses of employees and family members "including but not >> limited to personal expenses for housing, such as rent or mortgages." >> > >
