Several owners of video relay companies are pleading guilty to taking part in a scam to defraud the government's program designed to assist the deaf. They submitted more than $2.5 million in fake billings to the FCC's Video Relay Service program, according to prosecutors. The defendants include:
- Kim Hawkins and Larry Berke of Nevada-based Master Communications and Arizona-based KL Communications
- Former interpreter for New York and New Jersey-based Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services Alfia Iskandarova
- Robert Rubeck of Surprise, Arizona
They each could get as much as 20 years behind bars.
