Miami, FL. — Issa Asad, 51, the CEO of Q Link Wireless, and the company itself were sentenced Thursday for a years-long conspiracy that defrauded the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program out of more than $100 million. Asad was also sentenced for laundering money connected to a separate scheme to defraud the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Asad and Q Link pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud, steal government money, and defraud the United States. Asad additionally pleaded guilty to money laundering. He was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison.
Q Link agreed to pay a forfeiture judgment exceeding $109 million, and both Asad and the company will jointly pay $109,637,057 in restitution to the FCC. Asad separately repaid $1.76 million to the Small Business Administration and forfeited over $17.4 million. Combined penalties and restitution exceeded $128 million.
According to court records, Asad and Q Link spent nearly a decade manipulating the Lifeline program, which subsidizes phone and internet service for low-income consumers. Beginning as early as 2012, Asad directed employees to falsify subscriber activity, submit fraudulent reimbursement claims, and block customers from canceling service, all to inflate Lifeline billing. Investigators uncovered coercive tactics, including automated phone scripts falsely warning customers that their Medicaid and food stamp benefits were “about to get cancelled” unless they stayed enrolled with Q Link.
When the FCC began investigating, Asad and co-conspirators created fabricated usage records to hide the fraud and continued billing for subscribers who never used their phones. Asad sent more than $50 million in Lifeline proceeds to bank accounts in Jordan controlled by him and a family member.
Asad also defrauded the PPP program by submitting false claims about Q Link’s finances and later laundering approximately $389,000 of loan proceeds, spending the funds on luxury purchases including a Land Rover, jewelry, and personal credit card payments.
U.S. Attorney Hayden P. O’Byrne called the conduct “a brazen scheme of staggering proportions” that harmed programs meant to support vulnerable Americans. Federal investigators with IRS-CI, FCC-OIG, USPIS, and the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery led the investigation. Officials said the case represents the largest criminal matter in FCC history and the largest plea deal ever secured in the Southern District of Florida.
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