U.S. Cellular Stops Whistleblowers’ FCC Auction Fraud Suit

U.S. Cellular Corp. and others defeated a whistleblower suit alleging a fraudulent scheme to win FCC spectrum licenses at an auction, because the suit was based on publicly disclosed documents, a Washington district court said.

Mark O’Connor and Sara Leibman alleged that Advantage LP saved over $100 million in licenses it won at a 2014 auction by improperly claiming a 25% bidding credit for small businesses. U.S. Cellular’s control over Advantage meant that the defendants misled the FCC to get the discount, they claimed.

But the False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar precludes the suit because documents the whistleblowers relied ...