[17 / 1 / ?]
DoJ dismisses a long running fraud lawsuit (a criminal fraud lawsuit, with actual victims!) just a short while after the defendant and his wife gave over $100k to Biden's campaign
https://nypost.com/2024/03/22/us-news/doj-moved-to-dismiss-3-3b-fraud-suit-against-dish-after-chairman-charlie-ergen-donated-113k-to-biden/
DOJ moved to dismiss $3.3B fraud suit against Dish after chairman donated $113K to Biden
The Justice Department took the rare step earlier this month of moving to dismiss a $3.3 billion civil fraud lawsuit against Dish Network — months after founder Charlie Ergen and his wife donated more than $113,000 to President Biden’s re-election campaign late last year.
Ergen, a former professional poker player who helped launch what was then called EchoStar Communications in 1980, has battled the federal fraud claim for nearly a decade.
But the Tennessee native saw his luck change shortly after he and spouse Candy contributed $100,000 to Biden’s super PAC and maxed out with matching $6,600 donations to the president’s principal campaign committee in December, according to campaign finance filings.
This past January, Dish nabbed a $50 million grant from the administration to help expand 5G coverage nationwide — the “largest award” of its kind, the company crowed — through a $1.5 billion fund created by the CHIPS act
Two days after the $50 million award was announced, attorneys at the DoJ intervened on behalf of Dish — and “tried to bully” Vermont Telephone, which filed the fraud claim, “into an unethical settlement”
“t appears that the effect — if not the purpose — of the DOJ’s rush to seek dismissal of this case is to protect Mr. Ergen from being questioned under oath,” Ross wrote in a Feb. 8 letter to the lead DOJ attorneys handling the case, according to a copy reviewed by The Post.
“We do not believe it is a coincidence that Mr. Ergen contributed in excess of $5 million to Democratic candidates and causes.
https://nypost.com/2024/03/22/us-news/doj-moved-to-dismiss-3-3b-fraud-suit-against-dish-after-chairman-charlie-ergen-donated-113k-to-biden/
DOJ moved to dismiss $3.3B fraud suit against Dish after chairman donated $113K to Biden
The Justice Department took the rare step earlier this month of moving to dismiss a $3.3 billion civil fraud lawsuit against Dish Network — months after founder Charlie Ergen and his wife donated more than $113,000 to President Biden’s re-election campaign late last year.
Ergen, a former professional poker player who helped launch what was then called EchoStar Communications in 1980, has battled the federal fraud claim for nearly a decade.
But the Tennessee native saw his luck change shortly after he and spouse Candy contributed $100,000 to Biden’s super PAC and maxed out with matching $6,600 donations to the president’s principal campaign committee in December, according to campaign finance filings.
This past January, Dish nabbed a $50 million grant from the administration to help expand 5G coverage nationwide — the “largest award” of its kind, the company crowed — through a $1.5 billion fund created by the CHIPS act
Two days after the $50 million award was announced, attorneys at the DoJ intervened on behalf of Dish — and “tried to bully” Vermont Telephone, which filed the fraud claim, “into an unethical settlement”
“t appears that the effect — if not the purpose — of the DOJ’s rush to seek dismissal of this case is to protect Mr. Ergen from being questioned under oath,” Ross wrote in a Feb. 8 letter to the lead DOJ attorneys handling the case, according to a copy reviewed by The Post.
“We do not believe it is a coincidence that Mr. Ergen contributed in excess of $5 million to Democratic candidates and causes.
